Spring-Summer. The Familiar Anchors Us.

My favourite time of the year here in Sydney has Arrived.  I've got the last dregs of a cold today, my to-do list of life admin has doubled thanks to the happy addition of end of year events and I'm on the 'one more coffee at 4pm' level of daily caffeine ingestion but when I take a look out the window or step outside, all is briefly forgotten.

I've taken to calling November spring-summer because it's mostly a month of my favourite kind of weather (sunny with some starter tan intensity to those rays tempered with a bit of a cooling breeze under the shade) and my favourite kind of blooms.

You can never have too many jacaranda photos in blog posts written by Sydney-siders.

And you can never have too many 'Havs go with everything' photos either.

It was just as well that I worse those Havs the other day because my next stop after waiting in line for an indulgent mid-Sunday morning solo coffee was birthday party pick up.  Where a fellow mum and I happened upon this 'Cliff Hanger' high bouncy slide.  It took us about 5 seconds each to throw caution and fears of breaking a bone to the wind, whip off our footwear and begin the climb up the ladder.  

Disclaimer.  The slides are much steeper when you look down them from the top than what this photo might suggest.  It's also impossible to climb down the step ladder if you're a middle-aged woman. 

So the only way down was down those slides.....

and we lived to tell the tale!  No broken bones.  Just a few scrapes to prove to myself that I really did do what I just thought I did.

There's only one negative to this fabulous weather.  Having a cold.  That kind where you feel achy, clammy and off your food.  Not to mention that feeling of being ripped off at having to stay indoors post your umpteenth covid swab of the year while the weather seems to have moved on from the whole pandemic thing.

Solution?  A large choc chip cookie for morning tea before you take your next dose of Panadol.

I've made the most of my NSW Health imposed self-isolation while I waited for my swab result (it was negative, thank goodness!!).  I ate the first tomato of the season from my backyard vine in a very satisfying toastie.  I think I have a few more tomatoes coming my way thanks to my getting in early with the bug spray this year.

It was only ever for about 24 hours but that moment I emerge into the world from isolation is always a joyous one.   My ordinary, everyday world.  I see its bins out for collection day, numerous street signs advising of the complex hourly rules on who may or may not park beneath, the sturdy benches at the park that double as equipment for outdoor PT sessions, a local gardener's trailer...  

There's much to be said for the familiar and the way the familiar anchors you.