Sunday Safe Nail Polish

While all of the Northern Hemisphere is cozying up to the dark and ruby colored nail polishes, here in Australia the summer colors are revving up. I call this OPI Butterflies nail polish, Sunday safe because it won't shock the grey hair ladies on Sunday.

Sunday Drive

                                              MY COUNTRY
                                             A poem by Dorothea Mackellar

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft dim skies,
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

Boo was sick for several days and was tired of being cooped up in the house. I didn't want to inflict him on the general public, so I strapped him in his carseat. As I was driving, I was reminded why I love Australia so much.

The Someday Shoes

    Someday

          By Author Unknown

Someday I'll jump through puddles,
Take a stroll or run a race.
Someday I'll walk across the street
Or maybe walk in space.
Someday I'll scale a mountain
Or I'll join a nature corps.
Someday I'll walk a tightrope
Or explore the ocean floor.
Someday these feet will do some things
That only heaven knows,
BUT
For today they're happy
Just to wiggle all their toes.

                                                                                   

These are the most romantic, impractical shoes I own. The picture does not do it justice. They are made of a beautiful green and gold tapestry. I cannot remember the last time I wore them. Wait, I dimly remember a time before I was pregnant or chasing a toddler. These days it is about comfort and ease. Unfortunately, I am embarrassed to admit that crocs grace my very big feet. At least they can be sprayed off with a hose.

A Highland Hour

"Scottish by birth, British by law, Highlander by the grace of God."
- Anonymous

A few weeks ago I took Boo Boo to the Scottish Highland Festival in Australia. Good times were had for all and my son left loving the bag pipes.

Nailpolishes inspired by the plaid.

I snagged a piece a jewelry as a souvenir.

Food we avoided.

Spring on Norman Fisher

These days, with what is almost homesickness, I watch for the first robin. - Frances Theadora Parsons

Finally there are signs of Spring in Canberra, Australia. While my American friends are preparing for the Winter months ahead, I am warming my face in the sun.

Seeking the Sun

It is the end of winter here in Australia and I feel like I will never be warm again. I started looking at the pictures from a vacation in Cyprus in 2005 to try and imagine being warm. The picture below helped.

At least I can paint my toes in summer colors.

From left to right, Essie Barbados Blue, Orly Lemonade, and Orly Cabana Boy.

Obstacles

I am feeling overwhelmed these days with special needs therapy, college and a big move. I found a wonderful quote by Booker T. Washington that is helping to put things into perspective.

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."

I took this photo in Rome 2006, at the Presbyterian Cemetery.