blogging – Page 2 – WordMothers – for women writers & women’s writing

G’day. I feel like I should reintroduce myself, but first, let me apologize for not saying goodbye before I left.

You know those people that plan a trip ages in advance, soliciting advice from all and sundry on what to see and do? The ones who pre-book event tickets, check transport schedules, and stalk weather updates for months before departure? Yeah, well, I’m not one of those people. It can take me an hour to choose an entrée off a restaurant menu, but the bigger the decision, the faster I make it (eg. moving to Australia from the UK sight unseen about 3 weeks after the idea popped up). So when the opportunity arose to take my youngest 3 back to Boston to visit friends and family, it was a case of striking while the iron was hot and taking off within the space of a week.

Suitcases — I was crazy proud of this packing job. There are actually 5 more pieces of empty luggage inside these 2! I like to shop big when I go home and this time I returned with half an American grocery store’s worth of snack food and about 20 pairs of shoes in assorted sizes for all my boys as they cost a fraction of what they do here.

Flag — I do like a good flag. This was taken at Salem, Mass. It is very cold and windy and decidedly un-Springlike.

Patrick Dougherty’s incredible Stickwork in Salem. I think they are huddling together because they’re cold.

Gargoyle at Hammond Castle — Took the boys to Hammond Castle to show them where their parents got married. This is one of the gargoyles there. He’s grouchy because he’s freezing.

Plant — Spring finally springs! One of the things I love about my mother is that she could tell you what this is without blinking. I, alas, cannot.

House — This would be a perfect photo if I had actually intended to focus on the foreground. This is Ogunquit, Maine. I live inside this house in my dreams.

Tree — Granary Burying Ground in Boston. In my next life, I am going to be this tree!

Gown — Packing to go home and trying to figure out how to transport my wedding gown, which I had professionally “preserved” 16 years ago. Opened the box to find…this. At least it made it easy for me to just stuff the whole thing in a shopping bag and take it on the plane!

After we got back, I spent the better part of this month trying not to die. I think I’ve previously mentioned that I have a neurological problem? Anyway, said problem was at bay whilst I was on holiday but as soon as we returned to Sydney, I started getting dizzy, my leg started going numb etc. etc. again. Then I fell ill with some weird respiratory thing and got so sick I spent 3 days all but paralysed in bed, which is saying something for a mother of 5 as the wheels have to well and truly fall off before I can justify doing absolutely nothing.

Thankfully, I seem to be on the mend now so will resume blogging as I’ve really missed my online community. I’d planned to keep up on social media while I was home but it just didn’t happen as I was too busy showing my kids around my hometown and catching up with people I only get to see every couple of years. I did have some nice chats with some special authors while I was away though, and I’m really looking forward to sharing our conversations with you!

As always, thank you for reading. WordMothers had tons of hits in my absence, which is heartwarming to see. I’m grateful to all of you for your support and appreciate the contributions you make to this site.

Best, Nicole