I'm leaving on a jet plan

By the time this post goes up I will be back in Australia! It’s been almost two years since I left Melbourne to move to Toronto – crazy how fast the time flies. This trip back is just a visit, but I’ll be home for a whole month. 

I figure if I’m going to spend 30 hours travelling across the globe I may as well make the most of it. Luckily, my books can be written anywhere so long as I have my laptop with me.

Living far away from home has made so grateful to have tools like Skype, WhatsApp and Viber which allow me to keep in touch with my family and friends. In fact, we have a Skype camera situated on the top of our TV so we can chill on the couch and talk to people just like they were right there in the apartment with us. But there’s nothing quite like the face-to-face.

So, in light of my plans I thought I’d share some of the things I want to do when I return home.

Cici the Chihuahua & her latest victim

Spend time with my family and family

This is kind of an obvious one, but I miss everyone so much. Lots of quality time is in order. Little sis and I have a date to play videos games together just like when we were kids.

Getting cuddles from this little lady --->

This crazy Chihuahua is high up on my priority list. When I lived at my parent’s place for two months before the big move, we became very close and I have missed her dearly.

Drink all of the coffee

I know I lamented this often, but the coffee in Canada is just not the same as what we have back home. I plan to café hop my way around the city as much as possible.

Melbourne's GPO building

Wander around the city

I lived in Southbank for four years before we moved to Toronto, and one of my favourite activities was talking a walk through the city early on a Saturday or Sunday morning. I’d get a coffee from any place that was open and just enjoy the peacefulness of a city still sleeping.

Talk to my fellow writers

I’m so excited to catch up with my old writer’s group, the Melbourne Romance Writer’s Guild. In fact, I am actually going to be speaking at their annual writer’s retreat, which is so exciting!

Back in 2013 I attended this same retreat as a newly aspiring author with so much to learn. I’d only been writing for about six months and I listened to fellow LoveCat Annie West and the awesome Anna Campbell speak about their incredible careers.

I was so inspired, and both Annie and Anna gave me the encouragement to believe in my work. I can’t wait to be able to pay it forward.

What would you miss most about your home if you moved overseas?

A house full of memories

by Barbara DeLeo

It's nearly the end of the school holidays here and for this last week the kids and I have travelled down to visit my mum and dad in the city. 'Granny' and 'Pops' live pretty close to the centre of town in a beautiful old house that's home to lots of wonderful treasures and trinkets. Although I didn't grow up in this house it's full of the things from my childhood that bring back amazing memories and I thought I'd share a few with you.

This is the piano I learned on from the age of five. My maternal grandmother was a music teacher who travelled by horse and buggy around the farms of the district teaching piano and singing. Years later she bought this for my mother who eventually taught me and I learned for twelve years. From when my kids were tiny they've loved to "play" Granny's piano, often in pairs and often all four together. Thankfully, one of my girls is starting lessons this month so it'll be lovely hear the next generation playing on this grand old lady the next time we visit.

My mother was from a farm and we spent every single one of my childhood holidays there with my grandparents. In the vast farmhouse kitchen there was a word burning stove, a rack that you would haul up to the ceiling to dry the clothes, and this amazing old clock that would chime on the quarter hour day in, day out. It now sits on the mantelpiece at Mum and Dad's and still has the power to fill me with a sense of calm with its quiet tic-tock.

My mum has always loved antiques but she's not usually one to hoard every little thing from throughout her life. One thing she has kept is our special toys and this one was mine. She tells me she bought Mr Foxy from a church fair and I love the fact that he's a fox dressed up in hunting attire. The perfect revenge! 'Foxy' accompanied me on many of my life's great adventures but I especially remember cuddling him when I had to visit the doctor for stitches once. I've thought about taking 'Foxy' home with me but he seems like the sort of gentleman who'd prefer the quiet and dignified company at Mum and Dad's rather than the madness that is our house.

As it's only the kids and I on the trip this time and there's room in the car, Mum has asked that I take any of my treasures back home with me. This is one of the things my grandparents gave me when they left the old farm house and I'll be taking it back home with us tomorrow. It's the butter churn that my grandmother made butter in all through the war years. It even has brand new butter wrappers and butter paddles inside. Isn't it a beauty!

 Do you have any special family treasures that have been passed down through the generations?

Furred, Quilled and Feathered Visitors!

We've lived on our patch for 15 years now (I got a bit of a shock when I did that maths I can tell you!).  Anyway, after such a long time, we do take the wonderfulness of it a little bit for granted.

But then we'll get an animal visitation that reminds me all over again how much I love where I live.

So today I want to share just a few...

There's the Eastern grey kangaroo family which has become a regular.  It's fabulous when they're in the orchard right beside the house and it's been an extra treat recently because the females have joeys. 

One of them is quite young, I think, and is occasionally a little wobbly on his feet.  And when you've got back feet that size, I imagine they must be pretty challenging to manouver!

With some warmer days and with spring in the air, he's been spending time out of the pouch.  The
other day he was particularly full of himself and was bounding around in circles - leaping over his mother and around the others in the group.  It looks like madcap fun but it must also be excellent exercise to improve his coordination.

I confess to spending a lot of time at the window watching and trying to take photos of his antics.  He's so quick that they're sadly blurry but here's one of them..





As well as the 'roos we had a very bold echidna visit a while ago.  They're usually rather shy creatures and tend to tuck their heads into a handy corner and present their spiny backs to us when we go near them.  But this prickly fellow was quite unbothered by us following him around as he rooted around for tasty ants in the garden.







With spring in the air the birds are getting very active.  Lots of the males get very taken with their reflections in the windows - this little blue wren spends hours trying to persuade his cheeky reflection to leave his territory!



And how about this crimson rosella perched on the wheelbarrow handle waiting for the bran mash for the chickens!  Isn't he magnificent!

We live out of town and down several kilometres of dirt road.  The potholes and corrugations, huge mud puddles when it's wet, then dust when it's dry, can be a bit of a nuisance. But it's so beautifully quiet and there's an abundance of native animals to enjoy and we feel very lucky to live here.

I know I've posted about our animal visitors before so I hope you'll indulge me and share some of the furred or feathered visitors around your home!