A day in the life

This is my 2500th post.

I still get up early. It's a relic from the days when I was running my own writing business, editing the local newspaper and studying for a degree. My boys were in primary school then so if I woke early, I could get a lot of reading or writing done before they were up and the real work of the day began. So as is my habit, yesterday I woke early, got up, checked emails, comments and the forum and then started my day as a homemaker. After letting the chooks out and feeding them a large deformed cucumber from the garden, I looked at the blueberries and wondered if I should stake one of them, watered plants on the back verandah and lowered the sun screens in preparation for a warm day.

 I invented a new muesli for myself recently so I had a bowl of that for breakfast, sorted through knitting cottons and looked at my knitting basket for a while trying to decide what fabric I'll line it with. Tricia bought me this basket for my 60th birthday and it was lined with the original pink satin. She relined it, again in pink satin, but now that needs replacing. I want the new lining to be true to its 1940s era and when that's done I'll be very happy to have it back in service again.

After breakfast, the sun was hitting some plants on the front verandah so I watered them, sat on the couch and thought about moving a few plants around so they'll survive summer. But then the phone rang, I came inside and didn't give them another thought until now. There are many precious parts of growing old, like grandchildren and blissful days full of sewing and gardening, but I forget things now and I don't like that. It seems to be one of those things that comes with ageing for me so I'm not going to sook about it, and apart from this mention here, I'll just acknowledge the miserable fact and get on with it.

There is a fair bit of media interest in my library talks this year and yesterday, as I was talking to a journalist on the phone, Hanno brought me in a cuppa, and left the room silently, closing the door behind him. I doubt I could do what I do without Hanno. He has been at my side for more than half my life. I'm sure many of you feel the same way about your partners - they make so many things possible and often we just carry on like it's nothing. So let's raise our tea cups to our partners today and recognise them as the mainstays they are. I know it's not popular now to praise a husband, in fact often it seems the opposite happens, but I've never been one to run with any fashion, so my cup is full and raised high for Hanno. If your partner is a strong support for you, I salute them too. I hope you do too.

At some time during the morning, I cleaned the stove and made up a shopping list, I forget when they got done but at 11.30, I started making lunch. We had pork fillet and vegetables so it didn't take long to cook. After lunch, I talked with my Penguin publicist and another journalist and then went outside for a while to look at the elkhorn ferns in the bushhouse. I want to put them on the wall on the front verandah but when I took them out there, there were no screws on which to attach them. They're still sitting out there. I'll ask Hanno to put screws in the wall this morning and I'll hoist them up and see what they look like.

In the afternoon I did some washing, cleaned the bathroom and then a few bits and pieces on the computer. I'm trying to organise myself and my phone in preparation for the book launch and everything that will happen so quickly after that. If I put in a few hours of sorting out my address book and apps, it will make some things easier later on when we're far away from home. I get a bit anxious about going out and meeting so many new people but it's become part of what I do and as my mother would say, don't fuss Rhonda, just get on with it. That is my aim, but I don't aways succeed at doing it.

As usual, I ran out of energy in the afternoon and became quieter and less active as the hours passed. I had a piece of toast and iced water for dinner and did a bit of knitting in the evening before hitting the sack. It never takes me long to fall asleep and when I wake, there is is again, patiently waiting, another day in the life of an ordinary gal.

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