A PEACEFUL MORNING
The morning is
incredibly still here. A few birds are singing, but not much else is
happening. It is perfect. Country life has its price for access to
certain things, but it is a price I am more than happy to pay. Having
said that, I am also looking forward to flying down to Melbourne, my
favourite Australian city, for the weekend.
I have lived in most of Australia's capital cities, as well as many country towns. But in my heart I was always returning to country life at some point.
The cities vary greatly in Australia and while there are positives to them all, it is the multiculturalism of Melbourne that I love most. The food on offer is fabulous, anything you want is there and for a vegan, there are numerous choices of quality places to dine. The positives I find in this city, in all sorts of ways, are too numerous to mention.
The music scene in Melbourne is also phenomenal. Any night of the week you can hear top quality live music. A radio announcer I was once interviewed by has a great system to keep up with the music in Melbourne. He basically follows alphabetical order to decide which band or artist he is going to see, unless there is someone specific who he cannot miss. He sees a band or solo performer starting with K for example of the Monday night, Tuesday night will be starting with L, Wednesday with M and so on. That is how much great music there is to choose from.
Interestingly, it was while working my way into the Melbourne pub scene as a performer that I realised I didn't actually want to gig in pubs anymore. Occasionally I will, for the right reasons, but generally I stick to festivals, folk clubs and other beautiful venues these days. These are much more up my alley than pub gigs.
The numerous parks in Melbourne will be full of beautiful, established trees, with their leaves changing colours and falling off. It is Autumn, a wonderful time to visit Melbourne, a beautiful time to be anywhere really.
I was at the beach yesterday, but couldn't quite muster the courage for a swim as the water has cool bite to it already. It was late in the day and getting chilly anyway. Only a few days earlier we were swimming at Charity Creek, a great swimming spot in the upper Manning River. It was chilly but not too much. It was lovely.
But the seasons are changing and we move with them as always. Nights are getting longer, arriving sooner. Skies are crisp and the birds settle in much earlier than they did a few weeks ago. I truly love this time of year.
It reminds me of my many chapters of moving around. Often, I unconsciously found myself travelling through Australia in Autumn and came to realise that it is my time of year, my favourite time. Something in me seems to always ensure that I will be quite free to enjoy the warmth of the Autumn sunshine, even if I have not consciously tried to arrange it.
Autumn is a blessed time for me, a time of happiness when the heat of the long summer has gone by for another year. Many parts of the world are now enjoying Springtime, a nurturing time of growth and new beginnings. But here in Australia, the cooler weather arrives. It is a time for more cuddling, wearing coats and hats and before long, a time for gathering warmth by a beautiful fire.
As a frog sits on the rose bush at my window and birds sing from the huge Tallowwood tree by the creek, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Life is not always easy, for any of us, but there are beautiful moments to be found every day. And on this glorious Autumn morning in the Manning Valley, I have found such a moment.
Thank you friends, for dropping by and sharing this morning with me.
My warmest wishes to you.
I have lived in most of Australia's capital cities, as well as many country towns. But in my heart I was always returning to country life at some point.
The cities vary greatly in Australia and while there are positives to them all, it is the multiculturalism of Melbourne that I love most. The food on offer is fabulous, anything you want is there and for a vegan, there are numerous choices of quality places to dine. The positives I find in this city, in all sorts of ways, are too numerous to mention.
The music scene in Melbourne is also phenomenal. Any night of the week you can hear top quality live music. A radio announcer I was once interviewed by has a great system to keep up with the music in Melbourne. He basically follows alphabetical order to decide which band or artist he is going to see, unless there is someone specific who he cannot miss. He sees a band or solo performer starting with K for example of the Monday night, Tuesday night will be starting with L, Wednesday with M and so on. That is how much great music there is to choose from.
Interestingly, it was while working my way into the Melbourne pub scene as a performer that I realised I didn't actually want to gig in pubs anymore. Occasionally I will, for the right reasons, but generally I stick to festivals, folk clubs and other beautiful venues these days. These are much more up my alley than pub gigs.
The numerous parks in Melbourne will be full of beautiful, established trees, with their leaves changing colours and falling off. It is Autumn, a wonderful time to visit Melbourne, a beautiful time to be anywhere really.
I was at the beach yesterday, but couldn't quite muster the courage for a swim as the water has cool bite to it already. It was late in the day and getting chilly anyway. Only a few days earlier we were swimming at Charity Creek, a great swimming spot in the upper Manning River. It was chilly but not too much. It was lovely.
But the seasons are changing and we move with them as always. Nights are getting longer, arriving sooner. Skies are crisp and the birds settle in much earlier than they did a few weeks ago. I truly love this time of year.
It reminds me of my many chapters of moving around. Often, I unconsciously found myself travelling through Australia in Autumn and came to realise that it is my time of year, my favourite time. Something in me seems to always ensure that I will be quite free to enjoy the warmth of the Autumn sunshine, even if I have not consciously tried to arrange it.
Autumn is a blessed time for me, a time of happiness when the heat of the long summer has gone by for another year. Many parts of the world are now enjoying Springtime, a nurturing time of growth and new beginnings. But here in Australia, the cooler weather arrives. It is a time for more cuddling, wearing coats and hats and before long, a time for gathering warmth by a beautiful fire.
As a frog sits on the rose bush at my window and birds sing from the huge Tallowwood tree by the creek, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Life is not always easy, for any of us, but there are beautiful moments to be found every day. And on this glorious Autumn morning in the Manning Valley, I have found such a moment.
Thank you friends, for dropping by and sharing this morning with me.
My warmest wishes to you.
