The temperature reached 35 degrees celsius (95 degrees fahrenheit) today! It’s 9pm now and it’s still about 30 degrees. The study is boiling hot (and freezing cold in winter). It’s my least favourite room in the house.

To combat the heat this afternoon, i watched a movie (Smart People) whilst packing and then made myself a banana smoothie. I never use ice-cream in my smoothies, making it a very healthy yet tasty snack. I whizz one banana, half a glass of low fat or soy milk, 1 T. of yoghurt and 1/2-1 T. of honey together in a blender and that’s it! Fast and very satisfying. If i have frozen berries in the fridge, i chuck them in too.

I can smell Lisa’s apple streusel baking in the oven. With some caramel ice-cream, it’s the perfect dessert for tonight.

Jon has informed me that it is raining now! And yes, i can smell the rain and hear thunder! And is that a cool breeze i feel? A perfect end to a hot Friday.

What good news i have this morning- daylight saving has been extended and will now start on October 5 instead and end on April 6! That’s about an extra month that we have! I’m so happy. More light is good.

I had a nice day of teaching yesterday and came to home to discover a big sack sitting outside my door. My books from Amazon had arrived! I have been waiting for them for about a week now and this was perfect timing. I had ordered Jane Brocket’s The gentle art of domesticity, Amy Butler’s In Stitches and Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing. How exciting! I started on The gentle art of domesticity yesterday evening with a cup of coffee and some homemade all-natural peanut butter and dark chocolate cookies but am saving the sewing books for when i move and have my sewing machine in a more desirable, sunny position. Oh, how i love Amazon.com and having the extra bit of money to buy some beautiful books.

I had my first dip in the ocean since last summer on Saturday and was numb the entire time. It was SO cold! But i felt fabulous afterwards so it was worth it.

I’m off to write, grade essays and do a little bit of dreaming whilst listening to this and this on repeat. Got to love beautiful, easy, breezy summer songs.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

I think today is the first real spring day we’ve had. It is absolutely beautiful outside! The windows are open! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have breakfast on my balcony, breathing in the fresh air and listening to conversations had by the people in the next block (who had also come out to have their coffee) as well as the bird calls.

Mmmm. Yes. It is very nice. And tomorrow at 5.30am, we leave for the long drive to the snow!

(current song: Fleetwood Mac’s Everywhere)

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.