THE BEACH FILES - CARLTON

One thing Tasmania has in abundance is gorgeous beaches. It's true that the water temperature is less than ideal for most of the year if you're a cold water coward such as I, but for meandering, dog walking and salt air sniffing there's definitely a generous selection to choose from.

DOUCEUR

Canadian Goldrich apricot in nearly full flower

Bracing myself for the usual sharp drop in temperature as I stepped out the back door this morning, it was a welcome change to be greeted by a calm and relatively warm morning. All signs are pointing to an early Spring and as several of my fruit trees are already donning their floral finery, I can only cross my fingers that the weather doesn't take a turn for the worse over the next few weeks.

A GARDEN AND A LIBRARY

Sun maps and seeds

Cicero, one of those thinky people in the seemingly endless legion of thinky people that were floating around Rome in ancient times, once said something akin to 'if you have a garden and a library you have all you need' (though I might hasten to add dogs, wine and chocolate to that short list).

DRIPPY DAZE

It's been a wet few days, and most of today's live coverage weather coverage came from the vantage point of my home office (aka the dining table) where I watched the rain fall steadily through the last of the autumn leaves - in between my own steady tappings on the keyboard.

MAY HIGHLIGHTS

The entire month of May has been pretty much dedicated to one specific highlight, which is jumping though the necessary hoops of buying a house. A house! A house in the Huon Valley! This is a brave new world for this little chicken and I think I've been doing a great job pretending like I understand a single thing that I'm signing my life away to and poker-facedly assuring my bank manager that yes, I will absolutely not be spending more than $100 a month on wine for like, ever *cough*.

9 STITCHES

There's that old saying about a stitch in time saving nine - which of course means if you tackle a problem early you'll save yourself a much larger problem later on. This is also a saying from an era when mending and darning were not only commonplace but essential. These days a split stitch, broken heel or missing button is less often attended to early, if at all. Cheap, convenient and fast-changing fashions often mean we end up with more clothes than we really need and that we also generally neglect them (not helped much by the inferior quality products on the market that give up after a couple of runs in a washing machine).

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH - APRIL 2016

April has been a beguiling mix of warm, clear (and frustratingly rain-free) days with the occasional sudden dip in temperatures to remind us that winter is just around the corner, and the occasional spike to remind us that summer still wants to play.

IN THE GARDEN:

Last 3 strawberries of the season...

WORKING LESS FOR THE PLANET

As part of my most recent life overhaul, one thing I wanted to try out was a reduced work week, so that I could investigate that mythical beast called a work-life balance. Luckily, as well as getting a job offer very quickly, it was also a 4 day a week position.  I guess I imagined the eternal 3 day weekend giving me more time to relax and read, garden, get to the end of my to-do list (who was I kidding? It's huge) and go camping and exploring more often. But, as it turns out, there's been more to it...

To me, the life of a 40+ hour week seems to lead to a slow but steady feeling of being consistently flat. Not always exhausted exactly, but a constant feeling of wishing there were just a few more hours in each day. The kind of feeling that has been pretty much normalised by modern society as just 'getting older' - but is it actually normal?

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH - MARCH 16

Time to get back on track with the earth-loving, slow living posts, it seems like I've been talking about nothing but travel and vague plans to move on for ages! I'll try out regular monthly summaries to keep on track with where I'm at, and as an encouragement to keep progressing.

THE ROAR OF THE 40s

See? I told you. He's fine.

Moving to the latitude known as the 'Roaring 40's', after turning 40, seemed like a satisfyingly poetic thing to do, and god knows these are the kinds of nonsensical whims that dictate my life choices, though I'm happy to report that the wind has thus far been behaving itself.