Nope, not the chooks. The last of the kids. Our baby. He left the nest several years ago but now he has flown 12000 miles away to live in the country I left 35 years ago to come here. Ironic eh?

It was a hard few weeks building up to his flight on Sunday with so many conflicting things going through my head, the biggest of which was how very much I was going to physically miss him. He has a big personality with a tendency to make everyone smile which will be greatly missed. His relationship with his siblings is very close but that with his brother is closer still, the yin to his yang and I know they will really miss each other . To be honest though, this era is SO MUCH EASIER than 1983 when I left the UK to live in Australia. Back then there was no internet, no email, no mobile phones, no Skype, no Facebook or Whatsapp. Just the good old bluey. An airmail letter that took about 6 weeks to get anywhere and was yesterday’s news by the time it plopped onto the floor of the porch at Mum’s place. A phone call meant a trip to Martin Place and the GPO to book a 3 minute call to the UK. You paid in advance and waited until your name was called to a phone booth and then the longed for call to hear your families voices ensued, with beeps every 30 seconds to alert you to the impending END of the call which made everyone a bit twitchy and didn’t really lend itself to any deep and meaningful conversation but was a highlight of our week/fortnight or month nonetheless!! So in this instance times have definitely changed for the better! He even had wifi on the plane so really it wasn’t so different from him being 2 hours up the road!!

Luckily we had an amazing 10 days together before he flew off. A wedding where he MC’d for one of his best mates in the middle of it but plenty of time to just do the simple things that The Meadow is famous for, waking up to the views, the cows and walking on the beach or up the country lanes with Bailey. A visit to his nearly 92 year old Pop was special, then he packed his life into a suitcase, did some job research and the odd online interview and before we knew it his last weekend was here. A request for Beef Wellington and a bonfire seemed easy enough (but by goodness that is one hard sucker to cook perfectly!) and several gorgeous bottles of 20 year old wine from his brother and Dad made for a memorable last supper and then on a sunny Spring day he gave us one long last hug and off he went! Now he is living the London life in Fulham and starting a wonderful adventure for which I am wholeheartedly excited for him. We have plans to meet up with him over there next June which makes it a bit easier but I am however starting to think this is my default setting, forever saying goodbye to the people I love who live in another country. Thank goodness for Sam, Liv and the peanut who remain a mere 2 hour drive away!!

In the meantime the pool project continues. More trucks, more mess and still no end in sight but we do have a lovely sparkly pool which was christened by the London bound son despite the freezing temperature of the water! We await various builders and landscapers to complete their side of things before trucking back in the soil we dug out, this time to back fill around the pool and then re turf to make it all look pretty!! As usual my mind is surging ahead to the time I can decorate the new Cabana, keeping a picture of our entire family enjoying it next Xmas firmly in my mind to offset the current devastation of the lawn!!! Of course this week decided to also bring about the demise of my washing machine, the septic tank alarm was relentless for 24 hours as the pump had a spac attack and on top of that when my new washing machine finally got delivered I needed a plumber to come and move the connection tap as it couldn’t accommodate the new tubing! Aaaaaarghhhh!! It doesn’t rain but it pours as they say!!

These are my finished inspiration pics to keep me sane!!

Meanwhile the garden is bursting into life despite the lack of rain. Nature really is quite amazing isn’t it? My apricot tree is blossoming ahead of it’s promise of fruit for tarts and jam, the trees are coming into leaf and the wisteria is delighting us with it’s perfume and purple flowers. The roses are already starting to flower and the bees are in heaven in the lavender and flowering sage and rosemary. My hydrangeas are leafy and some even have small flowers forming but unfortunately we woke up yesterday to 2 huge hares chowing down on them as a breakfast treat. One very annoyed chocolate dog chased them to the boundary rather incensed at their uninvited visit to HER property! We really need some rain and you can bet your bottom dollar that it teems down the minute the builders or landscapers arrive or even worse the day my sister arrives here from the UK next week! Murphy’s Law……Onwards and Upwards folks!