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I’ve had such a busy week this week and I am feeling tired, but satisfied. It’s only Wednesday but it seems later in the week because so much has been crammed into it.

Starting with Monday, when my eldest daughter, Hannah graduated from her nursing degree. It was a full on day as we had to leave here before lunchtime in order to grab some lunch on the way to Hannah’s place, and then we spent the afternoon being all girly, doing each other’s hair and makeup and putting final touches to outfits for the night. Hannah looked lovely in a new black and white dress with tulle underskirt that she’d bought for the occasion. I went with an all black skirt and top and black tights and black shoes. I wore a green dragonfly around my neck to break up the solid black. I felt slinky and slim in all black and even though it is not usually my colour, I managed to carry it off. The girls joked that I looked like I was going to a funeral rather than a graduation, but I was still happy with my look. Hannah and me

This photo is not the best one for lighting, but I am waiting on some more from the night, and will post them once I have them.

It was a very proud moment, watching Hannah receive her long awaited and hard earned bachelor of Health Studies (nursing) degree and I could hardly believe this is the same little sickly child I gave birth to 22 years ago. She has grown into a beautiful, confident young woman with a great career ahead of her!

When we arrived at the Convention Centre, Sandra, Kaylah (my youngest daughter) and I were waiting for Hannah’s partner and a family friend to arrive, when two people came up to us and began to talk to Kaylah. I didn’t recognize either of them, and was a little puzzled, trying to work out who they could be and then, about ten seconds later it dawned on me…

My ex-husband and his new wife! I was astonished to realize that I had simply not recognized the man I spent 23 years of my life with. Could this mean that my inner work on releasing and forgiving him has taken effect? I hope so. I think so. I have no ill feelings towards him anymore and only wish that he might be happy. That’s a big change from even a year or two ago. It’s nice to be free of that awful, gut churning resentment and anger I used to carry around for him. After such a long day, (we got home after 10pm that night) we both just collapsed into bed and I found it difficult to get up the next morning. Going into the city takes a toll on me. The smoggy air, and the crowded convention centre left me feeling hungover, even though I had only drunk water and soda all day. I stayed in bed until 11am and then dragged myself up to take care of the chickens. I spent most of the day lamenting my late lie-in as it had made me sore, and also feeling queasy and off colour because of the previous day’s excitement.

Today, I had a fairly long to-do list as several chores were neglected yesterday. I wanted to lay down new bedding in the hen house, so that was the first order of the day. I had my coffee and toast and saw Sandra off to Uni and then I got out the rake and gathered up some leaf litter which I took up to the hen house and after shaking up the bedding in the roosts, I put the new leaf litter down, revelling in the lovely scent of the autumn leaves in the small roost area. They have a very mild scent which is hard to describe, but I really like how it makes the hen house smell. Then I got some long grass which I have had lying out in the sun to dry into straw and spread that over the floor of the chicken run. The whole hen house smelled lovely and ‘farmy’ redolent of sweet hay and leaf litter. After that, I changed out the water buckets and tipped the old water over the compost heap before washing the waterers and refilling them. A dash of apple cider vinegar in each and then they went back into the coops and that was my first chore done.

Next on the list was my intention to rescue one of our poor neglected citrus trees from an overgrowth of weeds. Believe it or not, there is a Mandarin tree in there, somewhere!

I grabbed my gardening gloves and secateurs and set to work on the above mass of greenery, performing delicate surgery to cut away saw grass, creeping vines and wild oats that had sprung up all through this poor little tree. I worked steadily for about an hour, to the accompaniment of a dog incessantly barking at me from the other side of the fence. I don’t think he could believe I had any right to be there, no matter what I did. It’s been so long since anyone has really tended to our gardens, I suppose I could forgive him for thinking this house and yard is supposed to be abandoned! Still it did get a little bit grating, and next time I think I’ll take my iPod out with me, and wear my earphones! My efforts paid off!

I think that I made quite a difference to this little tree by the time I ran out of energy. There is still more to do, but at least you can see it really is a Mandarin tree. Next door’s shed is clearly visible on the other side, whereas in the first picture it was obscured by weeds! The tree’s rootstock has sprouted and that will need to be pruned off as it will weaken the tree. That’s a job for another day, though. After this was done, I came inside to eat some lunch and watch an episode of Being Human which I missed due to the graduation on Monday night.

The afternoon was spent cooking baked pumpkin for my chickens and a lasagne for our dinner. Tomorrow, I think I will take a break and just read a book, or something. I’m tired, but satisfied with what I got done today, but to try and push for more tomorrow would be asking for trouble.







