What a busy few weeks we have had!! I have literally had no free time to sit down and write as life with a toddler is non stop. When she does sleep (which she does VERY well) it is a toss up between 1. getting things on the extensive ‘to do list’ done or 2. making the most of it and sitting down with a cuppa while you can! She is walking everywhere now and has turned into a proper human. I’m still taken by surprise when I’m getting dressed or drying my hair and she is suddenly there getting into mischief in my cupboards or pulling out clothes from my wardrobe! She is so much happier now she can do things, that pre walking frustration has disappeared and she is now 100% into LIFE!! It is exhausting for both her and us and we often wish that we could also have a nice nap around 2pm when she does! This new found love of everything means that sometimes things go missing, sometimes for quite a long time, we eventually found the TV remote in the potato and onion basket in the kitchen after losing it for several hours!!

We have had some nice little trips into Berry as the weather has been mild and sunny and she loves taking hold of Bailey’s lead and “walking” her. They wait patiently outside the shops while we take turns to pop inside and our cute duo always attract lots of positive attention from passers by – who doesn’t love babies and dogs???

The restrictions eased just in time for Tom to celebrate his 30th birthday. We managed to rent a house up the road for 6 of his closest mates and Sam and Liv also joined us for the weekend making us a party of 13. It was a small group but a perfect one and after a game of golf on a rather chilly day we all gathered together at our place to celebrate. The Birthday Boy had requested a dinner of Beef Wellington which for some reason or another has become his favourite dish (I blame his time in London ) and gave this little home cook a decent challenge. Somehow rather miraculously I managed to pull it off but due to being rather frazzled I have no pictures of the end result. Luckily Liv took a few photos of us all just before we tucked in and that my friends is the only evidence we have of the evening! Suffice to say it was lovely with everyone recounting stories about Tom and his various antics over the years. It was quite emotional and he really did have the best weekend despite or perhaps because of the small intimate group. He was also very chuffed with his gifts as you can see here from his reaction!

My lovely daughter decided to plan a little surprise for us girls to escape the house for a couple of hours and last Friday she whisked me off to Silos Estate for a wine and cheese tasting which was delightful. Due to Covid we had a one hour booking and numbers were kept low so no one felt either rushed or overly anxious because of crowding. We continued outside with a glass of sparkling shiraz and enjoyed the gorgeous view at Golden Hour.

John and Lyn, long time friends and Tom’s godparents joined us for a couple of nights for the June long weekend which was lovely as I haven’t seen them for nearly 2 years since we all enjoyed a week together in The Barossa. An afternoon of golf prior to a slow cooked lamb dinner and a log fire with far too many glasses of red wine followed as we caught up on all the important stuff in life before tumbling into bed. Miss Myla decided to sleep for 13 hours giving us a nice lie in to recover and later that afternoon we stoked up the woodfired oven, lit the brazier and popped the music on for our fave night of the week …PIZZA NIGHT!! It is a lovely relaxed evening where everyone creates their own masterpiece and then we share everything. Myla comes too, all snuggled up in her snowsuit and has a baby pizza so as not to feel left out! Warm as toast in our coats and with a full tummy we enjoy the stars and each other’s company. Life is good.

It was nice that Tom saw them as it turned out to be his last weekend in The Meadow. He found a lovely little studio in the heart of Paddington and decided now was the right time to return to the city as the job market is starting to open up again as restrictions ease and people return to work. He has always lived in share houses before so he had to buy quite a few things to set himself up for sole living but he enjoyed collecting things and as a result his flat is looking really cosy and homely already. I was sad when he first told me as it has really been a wonderful 6 months having him here and he leaves a rather large hole but I knew the day had to come sooner or later and I am happy for him. Thank goodness we still have the others and Myla here as it would be too much of a shock and WAY too quiet with no one but us here. Bailey is really quite unsure as to what has happened as she lost her special mate and her favourite lounge in one hit! She is not generally allowed on the furniture but has always been permitted to sleep on the leather lounge which just happened to belong to Tom so for her it was a double whammy when he left…!!

So on top of a world already cracking under the onslaught of a pandemic we have seen mass protests throughout the world as a result of a police killing of a black man which appalled all who saw it. Racial issues have come to the fore and people have had enough. It seems crazy that on one hand we are all in this together Covid wise but the void between white and coloured people is so vast. It sucked timing wise though as hundreds of thousands of people have protested with no social distancing and there is bound to be repercussions because of that. I just wish we all had equal rights and opportunities once and for all and that all life was deemed equally precious.

So as Covid 19 continues to decimate the rest of the world with the biggest number of new cases in one day hitting over the weekend, we in geographically isolated Australia are enjoying some of our old freedoms again with the pubs and restaurants slowly opening and today I returned to Pilates for the 1st time in 4 months as the gyms and studios have also re-opened albeit with new rules and LOTS of sanitizer. One of our local industries has been entrepreneurial and have added sanitiser to their usual manufacture of glucose and ethanol and a local winery is bottling it for them! The only way now is forward, the old ways not to return in quite the same fashion and it is only the flexible and far sighted people in business that will succeed. As the pandemic emerged from China we noticed how all of humanity was equally susceptible and interconnected. The virus shone a spotlight on weaknesses within our society and has highlighted the interdependencies that exist between the multiple elements of our lives. We saw how our constant search for the cheapest prices in commodities has created supply chains that are unreliable in a crisis and pinpointed that we need once again to be happy to pay a fair price for something made in your own country and employing your fellow countrymen.

Despite the discomfort, anxiety and uncertainty that the virus brought, the resulting slowdown showed us the value once again of family and friends, a simpler life bringing us more family time and less dashing about and stressful commutes, the value of a home cooked meal and the time to make it from scratch (hello to the sourdough and home made pasta revolution) and a new found appreciation for the sort of life we have here in The Meadow. Growing our own veggies, raising happy chickens and being surrounded by countryside and the nearby ocean certainly winning out over the city apartments near shops, restaurants and theatres that were forced to close. The other important thing that we all realised is that kindness is key. Neighbours checked on each other and older people were acknowledged as vulnerable and important. The realisation we are all interconnected and that our social system is a fragile web so easily broken if just a few threads come loose. It took a virus for us to notice the interconnections between social justice, the economy and the environment. If we want a different , better future we need to identify and challenge those old assumptions and work out how we can take action to make the post Covid world a better place.

On a lighter note our litle Cooper got his first haircut and was a star client, sitting quietly and quite mesmerised by the whole procedure. The resulting ‘do’ makes him look so grown up and the handsomest little boy I’m sure you’ll agree 🙂