Withywindle Wanderers

It is SOOOOO cold here in the far North! My toes are chilly. They miss Australia!!!

It's hard to believe the sun is still shining brightly in Australia, now we're home in the chilly, gray, dark, naked Northern Hemisphere Winter. St. John's Wort is proving to be an effective anti-depressant. Nothing really bothers me - I wish my usual personality was a little more like this! Thanks, Anita and Tom, for recommending me take it (in Firenze, Italy! Tom was quoting you, Anita!) I'm having to fill out the application for Eowyn's primary school, beginning in September. How amazed am I to realise that my Eowyn, who grew within my womb and nursed at my breast and ran to me every time she hurt herself is going to be a schoolgirl!!! Here are the favourites: The EEU (where she & Coco go now.) John Stanford International School (Language immersion in either Japanese or Spanish) Wedgwood (Just a mile hence, excellent music programme) View Ridge (Where Bill Gates went, so he pours $ into it) John Rogers (5 minutes walk away. Culturally very diverse) It's ...

Eowyn LOVED kids' club in Australia, starring Victor as Fin the Bin, Rachel as the surf-lifesaver & Grandma as the tallier of points. (GO RED TEAM!)

The snug coat Mum gave me (THANKS MUM!), Dad, Coco and Megs' hike, and Eowyn & Coco of Nobby's beach!!

Where's home? Wherever Bens, Eowyn, Coco and I am!! It's wonderful to be reunited. Coco just about exploded with joy to see Bens, and all the way home was saying "That's my Daddy!! That's my Daddy!!" Our plane ride home was surprisingly easy. Saying goodbyes was devastating, and my heart is sore, knowing the recent familiarity of Seren, Dad, Mum, Rachel and Victor shall fade... I visited my Grandfather and his wife Jo a few hours before flying out, which was hard. He is 94, so I wanted to say 'goodbye', as it is likely I won't see him again. Dad, Aunty Lucy, Peter Robinson (the vicar who married us!), Naomi (dear old friend) & Philippa (my bridesmaid) all came to Kyeemagh Baths, on Botany Bay, just before we flew off, which was lovely. We swam in the blue bay, strolled on the sandy beach, watched Mum's plane (to London, Sam, Becca, Tom, Anita, Eddie & Sebastian) take off, and had a lovely time. In Hawaii, in a rather vague state, havin...

Sam and Megs Beach, where we idled many a day in 2000!! Dad, Eowyn, Coco and I daringly ventured into The Cave (which is underwater in hightide and rather perilous!!), where we sang "And Can It Be" loudly and echoingly, joyuously remembering singing in that very cave six years ago with Bens and Sam!!! (Becca and Sam have been there too!!) Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature's night Mine I beheld a quickening ray I rose The dungeon flamed with light My chains fell off My heart was free I rose Went forth And followed thee!!

...and yes, we're still in Australia!!!! Seren is beautiful!!!! I love her, and shall miss her, and my family and friends here madly Love M PS Love you Bens!

I am exceedingly proud of you all!! 'Twas SO marvellous to hear my new nephew cry loudly on the phone today, and to talk with his parents! What joy! Celebration! Wonder! Hooray!!

I love the refreshing glory of diving under a frothy, salty wave, creamy surf kissing my skin!!

I've just had a lovely talk with Becca, in London! I am glad whoever 'twas invented the telephone!! Here are some more pics by Tone of Rachel and Victor's wedding!!!!!! Love, Megs Gosh!! There's a party happening out there! My parents entertain a lot. Golly gosh! James Taylor's Cowboy Song, which Bens sings the girls as a bedtime ritual, is playing. I'm going to listen to it, and let my heart long for him...

These flowers are in Mum's garden - she's created the most amazing tropical paradise, with avocadoes and passion fruit and Australian natives - Wattle, Grevillea, Jacaranda, Casuarina, Melaleuca, Callistamine - all in the six years they've lived here!! My beloved Bens has tagged me in a game of blog tag started fifty years ago in Northern Iceland (OK OK not all that sentence is entirely accurate!!!!) The rules? 1. Tell five little-known things about yourself. 2. Tag at least 5 people I tag (and miss!) Sam, Becca, Tom, Anita and Eddie!! You're it!! Oh, and my 5 little-knowns... Hmmmmm!!!! 1. I played French Horn in Year 7, in the school band... 2. I swam 20 laps a day in junior high 3. My first ever chapter book (Eowyn loves being read chapter books! Gump finished reading her CS Lewis' 'The Lion, etc.' last night!!) was Enid Blyton's Binkle and Flip, which I read, utterly absorbed, aged 5, as my family drove down the Champs Elysses (sp?) in Paris 4. I wro...