SkyWatch ~ On the Road

Sorry I have been flying rather low below the radar recently.

My mobile internet connection ran out and without grand-

daughterial assistance I could not manage to cash up my

account again.

These few pics are from two days ago on our way from

Albury/Wodonga to Sydney. The trip was rather too long

for me to cover in one day so it was wonderful to have this

guardian angel watching over us for much of the way.

All too soon daylight started to fade but the glow in my side

mirror made me wind down the window and shoot backwards

towards the blazing sky. Pardon the slight blur but we were

doing 110kph.

We briefly stopped so I could get a more direct shot at that

glorious sky before hurrying on to Wollongong and a friend's

wonderful welcome, delicious and companionable dinner and

a bed to dream about. Hooray for friendship!!

My photos are straight off the camera and have not been

tampered with in any way and can of course be enlarged.

We are at the moment at our son's house in Sydney where our

granddaughter is playing violin at a soiree tonight and I have

access to wireless internet. I may be able to post more tomorrow

before we again vanish into internet shadowland.

I do hope you keep me in the loop and send a few comments my way.

Thanks to everyone at SkyWatch for this smashing meme!

The Wonder of Friendship

What is true friendship? Friendship is when someone you

have never met or spoken to, who knows you are going through

a long stretch of tough time, stretches out a hand across the seas

and sends you her wonderful art work. Ces is a marvellous artist

with an immense output, painter and illustrator extrordinaire

and blessed with a heart the size of a continent.

Not only did my dear sisterfriend send me this delight above,

she also went to all the trouble to study my Sacred Canyon post

and drew this superb interpretation of it especially for me.

Fairweather friends one has aplenty but sisterfriends who

feel you need help and extend themselves to draw and share

their artistry are few and far between.

My heart swells with gratitude as I look at the wonders

she has created.

Thank you so much my dear funny, talented, incredibly intelligent,

caring sisterfriend.

A little Philosophising . . .

Life, fragile as a butterfly, a tenuous thread to reality, precious

beyond all else . . .

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God willing, by tomorrow I can count another year of it, how

much longer we have, not one of us can know or determine.

This last year I have spent a little too much time knocking on

those pearly gates, yet each time been knocked back and sent

away. Sometimes I was not too happy with that as passing over

would have been so very easy.

Then, being back and seeing the gyrations of my newly grown

up grandchildren, developing an even closer and more loving,

if that is possible, relationship withmy daughter and seeing the

garden thrive again, has given me new strength to cope with the

Prof's fading memory.

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Every equation seems to have pluses and minuses and we cope as

best we can.

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The blogging community has been a wonderful spur to at least a

little creativity in moments of respite. I know I have not been able

to visit as much I would have liked and yet so many have left me

kind comments when I was unable to respond. There were many

times when those caring words kept me going against all odds.

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To my dear, dear sister/daughter friend Ces a special thank you

for the most wonderful present that arrived to succour my soul

with the wonder of her great gift of drawing. On That another

post will follow I hope soon.

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At the moment it is daily injections at the hospital as my body

seems to be refusing to submit itself to the major blood thinner

on the market which I have been subjected to for many years.

I resent the time this robs me of but at least it stops clots forming

on my artificial heart valves.

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Sometimes we just need to accept what is.

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So thank you for making my life so much richer and full of

fun and I send big hugs to all of you who drop in regularly

with scones and cup cakes to take tea with me and thank

you for your friendship.

*

MY WORLD ~ 47 A DOUBLY SIGNIFICANT DAY

Sixty years ago today we sailed in through the Sydney
Heads and as we neared the harbour and the city I
stared in wonder at the hills.
Everywhere there were large patches of pink which
later I learned were Magnolia trees. In more than
half a century Sydney has changed and now is
crammed full of houses where before it boasted
beautiful gardens.

Although the spendour has left the cityscape, my

soul still remembers the exquisite beauty that greeted

my eyes on that auspicious day.

We embarked from Naples on the 25th Sept. 1949, my

13th birthday, little thinking that ten years to the day

later I would be leaving Europe yet again to cross the Atlantic.

My brother and sister had emigrated to Australia a year

earlier and sponsored mother and I to follow. Refugees

had little future in Germany at the time and neither the

USA, which only took young single people, nor Canada which

externded a helping hand to families as well, would take us

as we were encumbered with a person over the age of 45

and another still of mandatory school age.

My little brown cardboard sutcase held all my worldly

posessions, a spare set of underwear, a cardigan, a pair

of two piece bathers I had knitted from scratchy homespun

wool, a sunhat my mother had made for me for the voyage

and the few treasures I posessed, two books and a little

crystal vase and another very little one from Pompeii, my

birthday presents, as well as the little cellophane dolly my

papa had given me on the last Christmas before the Russians

hauled him off to Siberia.

All of which turned to ashes in the major bushfires in 1983.

Memories of the early days welled up of yet another language

to learn from scratch, the time spent in various camps, of people

on public transpost sidling away from one as though smitten

with the plague if one spoke in a foreign tongue on public transport...

When totally out of the blue Ces the wonderful Sunday painter

created this very special award for me.

As if by magic, I was lifted out of my introspective

thoughts and surrounded by the fellowship of the

oak nymphs she has created and made to feel special

for the old and weatherd oak that I am.

Ces, I thank you from my heartwood and will compile a list

of further recpients as soon as I can. Thank you dear

sisterfriend.

Thanks to the My World team we can all wonder the world at will.

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ 33 Tulips

The fiery red of Tulips to shoo away the flu
on a miserable and rainy day...



To all of you who cared and sent supportive messages
I am truly deeply grateful. Though it still lingers, it is
decidedly getting better.
Here they are again on a slightly brighter day.




My energy reserve opening up in bright sunlight.



Click on the flowers to enlarge or on the Logo to visit
many more around the world.


Thanks to Luiz Santilli Jr. and his great team we can see
what is flowering around the globe.

Unchained Melody....

Dearest friends.

as you know, on the 29th. Jan. I went in for a day surgery procedure. Two hospitals and 11 days later, I have been unshackled from the iron bedstead and released on home detention.

Your kind wishes, prayers and thoughts have sustained me during my captivity.
I thank you all for standing by me during this time, and hope to be able to post at least for SkyWatch this week.

It may take me a while to leave comments on your blogs as I still need some recovery time.

With grateful appreciation, hugs to you all, Arija

Blog Awards Night

Four very kind people have seen fit to
bestow marks of recognition upon me.

Though belatedly, it behoves me to distribute

them as best I may.Being new at this, 28

bloggers to pass them onto is beyond my limited

capacity. Please excuse this breech of protocol.

It is not in my nature to give and impose rules upon

the recipient, and I can only say, please pass them

on when, and to whom the spirit moves you.

To Willow of Life at Willow Manor who so kindly

boosted my confidence as the new kid on the block

I give thanks for this beautiful award and pass it on

to Cielo of The house in the roses.

To Maria of Der Lustige Wanderschuh, my deep

appreciation for your friendship and this award

which I would like to give to Gwen of Desideratum
I pass on this award with my love and best wishes.

To Annette of Faerie Shoes and Other Things,

my sincere thanks for the brilliant Blog Award

which boosted my confidence no end.

This award I would like to bestow on:

Willow of Life at Willow Manor, and
to Pamela terry and edward

of The House of Edward.

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The I love your blog award came to me by

courtesy of Michelle of Rambling Woods

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This I would like to share among:

Your EG. Tour guide,

Michele (rocky mts.girl)

Sylvia K, The View from Over the Hill.

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Thank you all so much for your kindness.

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