It is summer holiday time, a time I look forward to each year. Many families travel away to the beaches or the city. They treat themselves to different food, to different scenery, to a different lifestyle. For me summer holidays means enjoying time at home and traveling out to the Styx River to lie in the water and drink in the quietness of the place and the beauty of the unspoilt environment. Holidays mean enjoying a more relaxed routine or spur of the moment activities. I love the long days, the warm weather, the excitement of Christmas. I love it all.

It is New Year now. The time of eating too much is over and in the hot, hot weather I’m rising early and going out into the crisp, freshness of dawn to water the garden. This is a magical time of day, the birds calling, a kangaroo leaping away from the dam where it has been drinking, a special kind of stillness and I breathe in the scents of dawn in the bush

Many people make New Year Resolutions. I like goals rather than resolutions but what goals can I set myself for 2019? It will be a very busy year as I prepare to sell my house and move into the town. My life will be full of changes. I will miss my home and the rural landscape where I have spent so many years. I will miss telling stories at the early childhood centres too as I retired after 24 years. Will I have time to keep fit, to read, to write and to sew as well as caring for my family? I am thinking about these important aspects of my life and an idea is beginning in my head that will include them all.

Tags: environment, health, holidays