June: Back to back, shopping, snow.

Side note, I got sick with a throat infection. I think I caught it at Women of Truth, had a few days off work (watching Good Witch), and feeling better on Saturday I went to a church engagement party, which was fabulous, but my throat wore out. I went home early very sore and lost my voice til Wednesday, and it took weeks to cough my throat clear. It has been 2 years since I was sick though, so I have had a very healthy run.

There's a wedding in July, and I was planning on making a skirt like this. I still do want to.

Elsie visited on the June long weekend!! And because she found a skin product on sale we spend Saturday shopping at Charlestown. I tried on this dress and coat from Leona Edmiston  on sale because I liked the retro cut. I didn't buy though, even on sale, because I had the dream of a long silk skirt.

I feel that this photo is 'skinny' and not my true weight, but the dress was really a good cut and a skin-tight fit.

We had dumplingy lunch and used an Entertainment Book discount!

I bought a scarf which is grey with brown dots, it is wide so also a wrap, finding it pretty useful. Scarf/wrap is very multi-purpose.

On Sunday we went to Tocal for the Back to Back wool challenge. It was once again a lovely day. Shearing, spinning, knitting, live music.

I went to Spotlight and silk is $60 a metre and there are only 2 colours, burgundy and cream. Sigh. I changed my mind about making a long silk skirt for the wedding and decided to get the dress from Myer because it was cheaper as well as gorgeous for no effort.

I got an email from a music shop about EOFY sales, so the next Saturday I decided to finally go piano shopping.

So I had a big Saturday in mind. I wanted it to be fun though, not a lonely trawl around Newcastle. After a womens breakfast I hit up Emma who was having a PJs day, she invited me over for soup lunch and we went from there. We went to Charlestown and I bought the dress and it was an extra 30% off! So just over $90 in the end, over half price. A good price for a dress, and it's quality. We tried on similar styles in Portmans I think, and they were dreadful. So unflattering. That's why they had heaps on the sale rack.

Then we went to Foleys. Played around in there for 40 minutes. This is the baby I think I want. Note, it has a little lightbulb over to the left. Look at all those dials too. There is also a good Roland I like, more cheaper and more reliable but less wow, so I'm choosing between two. Going in to buy one of them on Thursday with a colleague who is very knowledgable about music equipment.

Then we briefly visited my home group leader who had a baby. A very soft baby.

This week I started back on Jillian feeling pretty energetic, but after several weeks off sick and recovering I started small and got some DOMS. There was a staff lunch on the windiest day this week, we bussed out to an old house on the property, Bona Vista, and had THE BEST SOUP.

Today I got up at 6.15, motivated to cook myself a good hot protein breakfast to fuel me for a bush walk. It was a spontaneous arrangement with a girl at HG.

We left my place at 7am, drove out through Dungog and Salisbury, through pretty country with dairies and cottages, then up into the Barringtons, and after 90 minutes we were at the base of the walk. It was 4 degrees. The air was cold and pure. I kept marvelling how pure it was. And we were so fortunate with the weather, after some dodgy wind and rain during the week it was sunny and calm.

The photos I took don't capture how steep it was. We climbed several hundred metres in the first hour I think. I suggested we walk with sticks because I remembered that it takes some of the effort from your legs to your upper body, and we found it really works. Once you get the technique, you basically keep the sticks behind you, rather than swing them out in front, you get a fair bit faster.

We walked for an hour, stopped to remove fleece layer, drank a little water, kept going. After another half hour the incline was a lot less steep and I noticed some unmelted ice on the ground! And then we saw snow! The first snow I've seen in 20 years I reckon. Just hints.

It is amazing how much heat we worked up climbing. I kept my beanie on the whole time, but just a singlet and flannie for much of it, even though it must have been very cold.

When we got to where there was a constant light dusting of snow, it was magical! We were non-stop delighted. We whacked fern fronds covered in snow to shake it into the air. My hands started to feel the cold, also sore from holding the climbing sticks, so I put my gloves on.

After 2.5 hours of walking, it was 11.30, so we stopped for lunch, put our soft shell jackets on a snowy log and ate for just 15 minutes. We cooled down quickly, so put jackets on to turn back. We were maybe 7 or 8km into the walk, and my leg-lifting muscles in my hips were now tired, and it was further than D had ever walked. She said I set a good pace and pushed her. Her pace was slow and steady, and mine is more a spurt for a short distance then a rest to wait for her. On the way down however, she led. I was much slower.

On the way down we chatted to an older man we saw with proper hiking poles. He was an expert at hiking, and having done the track with a GPS before, we got the stats on how far we went. The walk has no signs! So you have no idea how many kms you've gone. But he estimated we'd done at least 7km, maybe 8, before we turned back, and we'd done a climb of 700m from the car.

We got back down in 2 hours. I really struggled for the last half hour. We drove to Dungog and got hot chocolates and a slice. So good. Got home mid afternoon and shared my photos of snow and wrote this blog post!

June has gone well. Solstice is past, so although there is much cold ahead, the days will get longer.

Photos from the end of Autumn.

Sydney work breakfast thing. Had a good trip down in a work car, with Liz, we stayed over night at Kirribilli, walked over the bridge, networked at breakfast and then had I all sorts of fails catching the train home, but it’s a nice thing to be out and about during work hours, people at shops and train stations were friendly. The central coast train trip is enjoyable.

I’ve helped mum make a website and a business card for her counselling business. inkspotcounselling.com

I had an efficient day off work where I got appointments done. I drove down to Gosford for my last retainer check. I have never driven there I think and it’s a long way but the exit of the freeway is really cool, windy through cliffs. Then I went to bunnings and spotlight on my way back. Then I took my car to be serviced. Then I found a very cute shop over the road from Toyota where a girl fixes up old furniture.  

Then I got a quote from locksmiths. Then I think I sewed a new pillowcase for my banana pillows. I don’t think banana pillows or pillowcases are around anymore.

Maddie and I had a big youth group dinner on a Friday night, in the garage. I also organised dinner for church the following Sunday so that was a baptism of mass catering.

I wanted to do some decluttering so I hit the spare room, which is the room of things I am least attached to. I donated a spare queen sized doona to friends. I threw out my old feather pillow. I found so many pictures that I put in the cupboard because I actually like bare walls now, but I decided to hang most of them up gallery style in the spare room (to create cupboard space). They look nice there. Also they are rather childish. Nice but childish, so I will try and remember to give them away to friends who have babies. There is a scene in Guards Guards where Vimes is looking at Lady Sybil’s bedroom and she’s an older single lady and she has a bunny dressing gown or something sad. Teddy bear cross stitches are like that. I’ll keep the ones that spark joy and gift away the others.

 Also in the spare room I found the braids for a rag rug. I decided to declutter it by finishing it.

Weekend visit to Goulburn for Grandfather’s 93rd Birthday. All my siblings were there. We are a quality family.

I went for a scooter around town with Julia’s Mr 4, and found a chair and I really regret not buying it. It's so beautiful. Comfy. And green.

Then I must have been a bit tired and down, because Maddie gave me flowers.

I saw a gorgeous sunset at work last week which I actually managed to get a good photo of on my iPhone, which is normally rubbish at sunsets.

This week has seen me off work a few days with a throat infection. It's Friday and I'm feeling well enough to enjoy being off work, which is the perfect amount of sickness.

I've forgotten so many of my ponderings in the last month. I guess one thing is wanting to buy furniture but also wanting to have an uncrowded house. I rearranged the furniture which gives me the buzz of new furniture and new spaces, without actually buying anything. 

Another thing is feeling loved. When I was feeling like the I was looking after other people but nobody was looking after me, I had people suddenly look after me. Maddie gave me flowers, someone else is checking in to see if I go OK this winter or how I'm going with singleness, someone else keeps me company on Sundays so we can go to church together instead of alone, someone else writes encouraging emails to me. Amazing. 

Another thing is, people asking me about marriage or kids, or telling me I'm so lovely I'll get married, etc etc. I'm OK at the moment with being single, but what do people think I'm going to say to those questions?

Another thing is, I'm reducing meat and processed food. Whole grains like oats, a variety of vegetables, eggs and dairy, but no chicken any more and just occasional steaks.

Another thing is, I'll join the music team, when someone can replace me on the sound team or in August.

Today I've realised I have too many jumpers. I'm thinking of decluttering my clothes soon. It is hard though. I like my clothes. But I've changed how I dress since moving to Maitland. A different work environment I guess, and different weather. I still like my old clothes, but I've left them behind. Time to Kondo, respectfully release things into the world to serve someone else. With a housemate the same size as me and other girls at church my size they don't have to go far! Look at the positives.