It is a beautiful morning. The windows are open to let the very fresh wind bring a little bit of spring into the house. The washing has been hung out to dry. I am perusing blogs, listening to Mary Beth Maziarz and my dusty pink blanket is wrapped around me. There is nothing extraordinary about this morning but to me, every day that i wake up and am able to breathe and do the things i love (such as writing or reading or having a shower while the sunlight streams into the bathroom) is a blessing. Every day that i can spend on my own, doing my own thing at my own pace is sweet. At night, i welcome my husband back home, all the better for having spent a day lost in my own thoughts, day dreaming about days spent on a porch swing and having the fragrance of peonies wafting through the house.

This morning, sunshine is pouring into the sunroom, warming my face as i sit there and have my toast and coffee. I am reminded of a song i used to sing in church, based on Psalm 19: The heavens are singing the glory of God. And all creation is shouting for joy. Come dance in the forest , come play in the fields. And sing, sing to the glory of the Lord.

Today is the first day of spring (yay!!) and we are celebrating the season by driving to the snow next weekend for some sledding in freezing temperatures! I’ve never seen snow before so this will be a dream come true. I can’t wait!

I also can’t wait for the trees to be full of fresh green leaves, like the picture above. My pots of pansies are just beginning to bloom and i take much delight in watching the petals unfurl slowly- red, purple, cream. That is a lovely afternoon activity.

It is 5 pm and i am sitting at the kitchen table that overlooks our backyard. I have a cup of green tea and a slice (the last one) of mixed berry coffeecake on the table. Outside, birds are singing their evening song. The air is still and sweet and warm. It is the last week of winter and on a day like today, it is easy to believe that spring is just around the corner.

The windows in the house are open. There is no need to keep the cold out today. I have Real Simple open before me. I find it to be the quintessential American magazine, especially the July issue (which for obvious reasons seems very patriotic) which i am reading a month later. The recipes for baby-back ribs, fried green tomatoes and blueberry cobbler; the lady who wrote in to say that one of the top three things she wants to do before she dies is to have a little cottage on the coast of Maine and spend her days writing a novel (i know nothing of Maine but it sounds like a fabulous idea); articles on summer parties and summer clothes and summer flowers.

Every issue of the magazine i read always makes me want to go to America, in summer. It sounds positively idyllic. Reality may be something else but those pages of Real Simple keep me content during the cold winter months in Australia.

In honour of spring, i asked Jon to change my blog banner. I also cut my hair short and bought a sewing machine. I am looking forward to this new season and all it will have to offer. And then soon it will be summer and i will joyfully plunge myself into the ocean- that first dip in the cold water (it never seems to be warm enough) that will make me scream in delight before giving myself up to the movement of the waves.

Yes. Winter is indeed over.

Hi everyone, I upgraded to a new version of wordpress and my template got wiped out! My husband makes this blog look beautiful so i’m waiting for him to have a bit of free time to get a new template up for me. I have been very busy teaching and working at the university and reorganising my house (and life, it seems). Maybe this involuntary blog break was necessary for me to focus my attention on other things that needed to be done.

I hope to be back soon with stories and photographs to share. Take care, friends.

The picture above is of my friends Lisa, Eric and Charlie at the beach on Sunday afternoon. Lisa is pregnant with her second child and is due in the next couple of days, which is very exciting.

So, World Youth Day has descended upon Sydney. On Tuesday, I joined my friends who have come down from Singapore for this occasion. It was wonderful to see worshippers from all over the world singing, cheering and having fun. I couldn’t help but get cheered up myself just from watching them.

It’s been a tough week for Jon and myself and i could not have gotten through it without the love and support of my lovely friend, Shannon. She came over on Monday with darling Levi and sat with me as i cried. The emotions i had stored up inside for months and months came tumbling out with every tear shed and i felt so much better afterwards.

Last night, we had a movie night at home. We borrowed Dan in real life from the video store and went to the supermarket to get some popping corn, chocolate and cream soda. Once home, we made some honey butter popcorn and sat down to watch the movie with our yummy snacks, all cuddled up for warmth. Oh, it was a beautiful night and just what we needed. We hardly eat junk food at home and it was a guilty pleasure to consume all that sugar in one sitting. I didn’t feel too good this morning but it was worth it!

I’ve decided to tutor at the university next semester and it feels good to have made a decision finally. So far, this year has gone nothing like i had thought it would. I’m trying to be ok with that because it’s been too difficult trying to fight it.

I read Lisa’s blogpost about her porch a few minutes ago and it reminded me of how much i love the idea of porch. I can’t wait to have a porch of my own, where i can sit and drink coffee and read a good novel or watch the sun as it sets. I will surely perish without hope and dreams- i know this about myself and it is probably true for everyone. So today, i am immensely thankful for the reminder of the dreams i had as a young girl, where even at the age of 15 i could see myself sitting on the porch and watching the world go by. I have always been a romantic, i guess and to me, the porch is such a wonderful representation of all things romantic.

As i type this, the afternoon sun is streaming in through the window of the study which is normally a cold and dark room i avoid unless on the computer. It is a beautiful sight. Outside, my white curtains are drying in the wind and it makes me smile when i think about how nice they’re going to look hanging from the windows in the living room. See, there are many things to be happy about, many things to live for.

To me, an ideal summer afternoon would go something like this: Walk to the beach in my white kaftan, swim in the ocean, walk back home all wet but feeling strong and invincible, have a long shower, bake some cookies and then sit down with some tea and a favourite magazine. The sun will warm my face and the smell of saltwater will linger on my skin as i flip the pages and dream about country homes.

With the magnolias blooming (and now the jasmine and cherry blossoms as well!), i can always pretend it’s spring, which means i can pretend that summer is not too far away. I love everything about summer, especially the long days, abundance of nectarines and peaches and the feeling of happiness that is evident on everyone’s faces.

But it’s still quite startling to see the flowers in bloom and i actually wish they would bloom when they’re supposed to, in spring. At the end of every winter, i walk past the jasmine bush and see the tiny white flowers blooming one by one; and then one day, almost overnight, it’s an explosion of white and i pluck some for myself. This is my ritual and to me it heralds in the start of a new season and the promise of warmer days.

But now, it’s the middle of winter and today, it’s so cold. When i see the jasmine, nothing makes sense to me. I feel disturbed. And for some reason, no one else seems to be as disturbed as i am. Jon listens to me rambling on about “The flowers! Why are they blooming now? They’re not supposed to!” every night and shrugs. He doesn’t have an answer that will satisfy me. He wants to offer sympathy but knows it is pointless.

It’s more than just being worried about climate change. It’s as if nothing is certain anymore. Last night, in bed, i told Jon that i’d like us to spend a year in America. Just like that, an out-of-the-blue-where-is-this-coming-from statement that i like to make right before we fall asleep. This morning, i thought more about what i has said and envisioned putting all our things in storage and leaving Australia. Just the thought of it made me anxious.