home-made bread & pickled beetroot

since deciding to stay put here at Inglewood, I have become more of a domestic goddess than ever before.. dutch husband has bought me a bread-maker as well as a coffee machine & I have bought bunches of organic beetroot from the Co-op in Katoomba..the bread-maker sits on the bench.. scaring me witless.. I had visions of baskets of home-made bread but I am in fear of taking that first step... the coffee machine? well, i must find some coffee and then I will have a try.. but my friends have been throwing words at me like, 'make sure you buy an espresso grind' ... 'beware burnt milk', 'make sure that you warm the cups !!' and worst of all 'do a barista course'... pickling beetroot is easier.. I can do it with my eyes shut..

my life & love ~ plain and simple

this year, I decided to try to find the Sacred in every single moment of my life. sometimes it is more difficult than others.. take the heat for instance.. yesterday was hot. stifling hot.. when it seems nothing is really alive, it is just existing.. there does not seem to be any energy anywhere.. the birds are still, plants droop.

and people .. well they cope in whatever way they can.. (I don't like having my photo taken.. .. and I really don't like the photo of me above..I nearly deleted it.. but it is me.. pure and simple. I do not look like Michelle Pfeiffer, no matter how much I wish I did & I don't have God to thank for my jowls, I have my grandmother & my nose ~ from my Cornish grandfather)

I could not even face cooking dinner so Dutch husband and I decided to pack a bottle of wine, two glasses and a blanket and go to Katoomba, buy a take~away pizza and go for an impromtu picnic at Echo Point..

and that is where I found the sacred yesterday:

THIS is what my life is all about

a question of belief, of faith..

yesterday, my belief was questioned.. in passing conversation, dutch husband had innocently told someone that i was a 'white witch'...(which is a term I don't particularly like or agree with. I am a hedge witch if anything...) & I was asked why I thought as I did.

and i became tongue tied, flustered. like I was being cross examined. I fumbled with my buttons and stuttered over my words, saying something about it being in my genes from Cornwall, feeling like a phony because I could not explain what i felt or believed... in the end, I said I would write it down and let them read it later. and left it at that.

(if you click on the photo above, you will see something, I am not sure they are orbs but my lens was clean and it was not raining..)

but while outside this morning (a misty cool morning), asking for my morning blessings.. breathing in that cool mist air that makes your lungs want to breathe more deeply to absorb the essence of the mist.... I realized two things... ONE was that there are no words to describe my belief, my faith.. because it is deep within me, it is part of me and to even begin to try to explain would take away the sacredness of it.. and the SECOND thing that i realized, was that Inglewood is not just a house, a home or a garden.. it is an aura... an energy. and I must stay here for the time being for whatever reason. I am not yet READY to move on....

A man and a woman and a blackbird. Are one

the past few days pondering selling Inglewood and moving, has actually made me see our home through new eyes and to realize how lucky I am..I asked the blackbird in the apple tree, if I should move.. she just sat there looking.. giving no sign, yes or no.. but once I settled on staying put, all she has done is sit in my apple tree singing her heart out.. starting at 5am and singing all day..so I think that is a sign that she is happy that I am staying at Inglewood

do you get a deep sense of satisfaction when you scrub & clean your home & then put little treats or delights for other people? wondering what they feel when their eyes land on the heart given surprise?

even Dutch husband enjoys a flower in his bathroom

that was yesterday

yesterday, I was considering moving. today, I'm not. early morning in the garden, with 7 magpies and 2 blackbirds for company,

I discovered an abundance of plums that the birds had not discovered.
Plums that will be stewed for my breakfast. There are apples on my new apple trees

and lots on the old apple tree.
We have an abundance of tomatoes ripening on the vines, zucchinis and cucumbers forming too. I trimmed the strawberry leaves and runners and discovered ONE strawberry, hiding, there just ready for me.. only ONE, but that one strawberry tipped the scales back to Inglewood. And that is not even mentioning the gardenias that perfume my garden at the moment. We have a unique home here.. and even though I know we could do it all again..

it would take quite a few years to get fruit bearing trees...
we are still going to see the lovely little house down the road to see if it still tempts me... but today, for this moment, I am staying here at Inglewood.. sometimes I feel as if I am on a rollercoaster