This amazing sunny weather continues. One would think it were autumn – or fall as the North Americans so aptly call it. Guess we’ll pay with another hot summer.

I’m celebrating my birthday, so enjoying opening presents, cards, Emails and chatting to friends. I’ve been very generous to myself this year, bought a lovely brooch in shades of red and black and pendant in my favourite colour orange,  white andf shades of fawny grey. These are made by a lady in her nineties who still runs a huge studio. Each piece takes about forty firings, and she told me the exciting thing is you never quite know what the pattern will be

Colleen and Michael have invited me up the Central Coast of NSW for the weekend – stretched into a long one by leaving at 12md today, returning sometime on Monday. Oh, the joys of retirement.

Their apartment has views over the ocean and The Entrance, where the water rushes inland, a perfect spot to enjoy spectacular dawns and sunsets. At this time of the year, one can often spot pods of migrating whales, and there are flocks of pelicans which are very tame – I even saw one strut into a nearby fish shop for a snack Visitors like me get a chance to feed them daily.

With all these sources of inspiration, who could resist spending time reading and writing poetry, as well as enjoying sand and sunshine? My camera is charged so with a bit of luck I’ll take a few worthwhile pics.

Now it’s just a matter of packing my bag, resisting the temptation to throw in my whole wardrobe…