Perfect days

The botanic gardens at Mount Tamborine are one of my favourite places. Sitting on an old wool blanket, under a tree, Dave and the children feed our picnic sandwich crusts to eels. A thermos of tea. My Composition book, and a cool, beautiful day. Mountain weather.

We walked to Curtis Falls first, amidst the damp undergrowth, towering vine covered trees and the ring of a thousand cicadas. Just the walk, just the noticing, just the moss, beetles and gnarled roots would have been enough. Yet there at the end of the walk rises the waterfall. A wall face of rock, interrupted by the flow of water and defiant plant life. Ones eyes adjust to the shapes and tones beneath the water and begin to pick out an eel, another eel, a catfish. But no platypus. I'd love to see a platypus in the wild.

Exploring, laughing, relaxing. A beautiful way to spend a public holiday and the last day before the first day of school.

All the best to all the others parents out there whose little and big ones are starting or returning to school soon. Thinking especially of those whose little ones are starting school and those who are starting new chapters of their lives with the likes of high school or university. 

Happy days

Some things become a family tradition without any planning or intention. They just sneak up on you. One day you may notice that you are repeating something which has meaning and brings happiness, as I did today. I realised one of those sneaky traditions is a visit each season to the botanical gardens at Mount Tamborine. When we want to wander and 'just be' as a family, we automatically drive up the mountain. 

Our last visit was a Summer day, the first of January. This time, as Autumn unfurls, I remembered to pack a picnic basket. Turkish bread with baby spinach, boiled eggs and ham, grapes, carrot sticks and homemade hommus, and a thermos of tea. There were eels and turtles in the water, competing for floating bread. The lake bare looking without it's cloak of water lillies. Leaves were turning and the ground was damp underfoot. And once more we wandered.

-

PS. Don't forget to enter the High Tea Vintage bag giveaway. I am really enjoying reading the comments and can relate to many of them.

And so we wandered

Yesterday we ventured up the mountain. I knit as Dave drove and we spoke of our plans for the coming year. Paddocks with horses and cows lined the road until we started the climb and in their place there was thick rain forest. Past the main strip, at the end of a street full of houses, we made our way to the Mount Tamborine Botanical Gardens. I love it there. So fresh, lush and green. It is a place that makes me feel at ease. The rose walk, the hill of hydrangeas, the Japanese garden. We walked the paths before sitting beneath old trees on the lawn. Emerson crawled and sat, tasting leaves and grass. Cohen made a friend and they explored and imagined together. Bush turkey's walked past, an eel swam in the pond, kookaburras laughed above us. It was simple and beautiful. 

I wish we had packed a picnic so we could have stayed for longer. That feeling of family, togetherness, quiet, comfort, I want to take that in to the new year with me. To always leave space for those moments where my children can just be themselves and I can soak them in without interruption.  

I saw in the New Year with a baby in my arms who'd been awoken by the sound of fireworks and dogs barking at midnight. I'd been laying in bed, unable to sleep for excitement at all this year has to bring. There is something about the clean slate of the New Year. Of intentions, resolutions, unfulfilled plans. Promise, expectation, possibility. I kissed both my children for the first time this year before slipping back in to bed.



Emerson's bonnet c/o Tuppenny Lane 

From the weekend

Nice things from the weekend

- breakfast in bed

- Autumn leaves on the mountain

- county markets 

- handmade soap

- animal petting for Mama and the little man

- ducks with cute fluffy heads

- car rides with steering help from Dada

- ten strawberry runners for $5

- cake and a cuppa with family

How was your weekend? 

Care to share a nice thing or two with us?

-

Last day to enter the inHomewares $50 gift voucher giveaway today! 

The winner will be announced tomorrow, along with another sweet giveaway.

+

Today we spent the day exploring, crossing things off our Summer list and eating ice cream at a look out, while Cohen picked dandelions for me. A wonderful way to spend the day as a family before Dave goes back to work tomorrow. I do so love our trips to the mountains.