Let the sun shine..let the sun shine in!

We ARE living in the colonies, but we may as well be in the hills of Scotland as its been cold, wet and dark for weeks now.
As much as I hate the summer, I am looking forward to a bit of warmth.
This afternoon, despite the rain and cold, I went for a historic walk around an old local suburb called Mayfield here in Newcastle.

The suburb used to be known as Newcastle's "TOORAK" which is a well to do suburb in Melbourne. So it was well known to be a placed for the rich and industrious of Newcastle. As the city itself grew, so did the surrounding coal mines and the "Hill" area where all the rich people lived was always dirty with coal dust coming in the windows and doors. So the well heeled wanted to move out to an area close by with good views and space.

And so began the wealth of the Mayfield area with families that started huge businesses, like soap and candle making, Arnott's the biscuit maker and the Winn family that had stores in Newcastle amongst those to make the move.

"Bella Vista", shown above, is now a function centre but belonged to the manager of the BHP which was situated just across the way not far from the best dressed people in town. When the BHP opened its doors and started functioning it dirtied up the whole neighborhood and again these families moved on even further out of town, many to a place called Toronto by the lake.
It was a wonderful afternoon looking at all the places that are now worth millions each, places little Ladies like myself can only drool over.

and so the changes continue...

Well one thing that you can always bet on is that nothing stays the same forever.
And our little princess just announced that she has exactly 39 days left of High School before the best days of her life ( which she wont realize until she is much older ) are over...
and so will begin the battle that is the Higher School Certificate and then she will be unleashed onto the greater world - into a world she is very unprepared for (thanks to her over protective Ladyship) where she will undoubtedly learn the lessons of life on her own skin all the while surviving on two minute noodles and cereal in her first year at University.
The Lord of the Manor says that it is best that she learns to stand on her own two feet and that as money does not grow on trees around our neck of the woods she will have to learn to fend for herself. I do wish that I could make life less of a struggle and that I could keep on protecting her.
I wish to give her what I didnt have.
I wish that I had been protected by my parents - they thought that protection meant control and by controlling my activities that they were protecting me. As long as they could control the environment that I found myself in it would be easy.
But it wasnt.
It made my journey through life painful.
As parents we need to let our children explore their environment but allow them to have a soft place to fall, a place where love will always be available for free, not just received as long as they do their parent's bidding.
So, I will also learn the lesson of letting go and hoping to all things in heaven that my baby has more joy than grief, more success than failure and more love than pain.
And I promise to catch her if she falls.

The Roller Coaster Ride Continues...

Some times we have moments in life where we need to just clip on the seat belt and hold on for dear life as the ride we have chosen to be on speeds up and gets a bit out of control.
And so, we seem to have chosen the craziest ride in the amusement park that is our life in the colonies!
As I breathe in I see our life having changed so much over the last two weeks now that hubby has been booted out of work into retirement - at least for now.
His health is no better but there is a weight off his shoulders as the decision to stop work was made for him rather than him having had to have made it if you know what I mean. Now he can rest which is what was terribly needed and look at what he can do to resolve his shoulder injury.
We have to learn to adjust to living on a very reduced wage.
That safety net of a constant income is, for now, gone.
And as much as I do understand that all will be well, I dont like the feeling of insecurity.
This included picture is of our liquid amber that is in our front yard - it refuses to drop its leaves even after every other tree in the neighbourhood is standing naked and bear for weeks. It's stubborn, just like everyone else in our family!!