The Beauty of Spring 2026

I do love this time of the year when we are given some delightful sunny days hinting of the summer to come, then a cold snap to remind us we’re not quite there.  The bush and my garden are alive with colour as the winter dormancy is shaken off and spring flowers burst forth from their buds and the scent of citrus exudes from my orange, mandarin and lime trees.  The birds are rising earlier in full song seeking to attract a mate.  In a Biblical sense spring represents resurrection and the birth of new life.  What a wonderful way to remember what the Lord has done for us; what more do we need to celebrate this wonderful season?

Recently, my friend Rob who is a regular reader of my blogs, suggested I write a book on all my adventures.  This gave me an idea for Elizabeth’s 90^th birthday, especially as she now lives in residential care and no longer has access to emails.  My first Sunday back, she told me she had been praying for me which reminded me that she no longer gets my blog updates. I felt convicted as I should have thought of asking someone to print them out while I was away.  I thought she might like to catch up with the latest Thailand and Indonesian adventures so I asked the church if they would be able to help out with printing the pages in an A5 spiral spine format.  They did, and what’s more didn’t charge me. Unfortunately the A5 print was too small so they did another copy in A4 with larger print which was perfect.  I gave it to her the Sunday before her grand birthday celebrations at church the following Saturday.

My new WiFi internet connection isn’t as great as I had hoped as when I have more than one connection eg the phone and the TV, then the computer doesn’t download or the TV cogs keep spinning!  Very frustrating when you are trying to get things done.

Since returning home, I have tried to make my Kefir without much success.  I wasn’t sure if it’s the milk here, the weather or something else. I tried three different brands of full cream and it surely wasn’t the weather as I’ve been making it in my yogurt maker!  I even thought it might be because one of the cultures was in my suitcase but the other was in my hand luggage which should have been OK.   It remained a mystery until I bought a different brand of milk which was on special.  This milk had the cream sitting on the top like we used to have when I was a child.  It was the type you had to shake well before using to disperse the cream throughout the milk.  Well, that was the trick!  Both batches worked in half the time and were thick and creamy!  One batch was made from the kefir pearls I’d bought back from my travels; the other batch I made from the culture I’d previously used.  This culture I’d had for many years, didn’t have pearls and I’d kept in the freezer while I was away.  I was very pleased.  It also proved to me the cheaper brands, although they claimed to be full cream, weren’t as rich.  I had been told that one was even watered down, no wonder that one really hadn’t done well.  I won’t be going back to that brand (I also found out it was a China-owned brand so even more reason not to buy it in the future).  Another interesting thing I have found out is that the more cream there is, the less froth I can make on the milk for my cappuccino.

Since coming back, I decided to tidy up a few things include deleting my PayPal account which I’ve not used since opening it a few years back.  I thought I’d keep it for online shopping but now I just use my cards or my WISE account which has several online cards which I can delete if I think there’s something suspicious going on.

One Thursday I invited both Jan and my neighbour Kath to Yum Cha.  It was a thank you to Kath for helping me out and looking after my place while I was away.  We were all very impressed with the quality of the food and will definitely be going back again, especially as it had durian mochi.

During my third week back I was beginning to feel a little flat.  I suspect it’s because I had done most of my urgent chores around the house and those which I hadn’t done I began to procrastinate.  Praise the Lord for the other routine connections I have that keep me active during the week.

Returning to help with the coffees on Tuesday I thought all was back to normal but Glenda said she thought there was a bit of friction in the air.  Not thing anything into it or being aware of any bending doom, I went home.  Then on Sunday after church I was pulled over in the foyer and spoken to; I felt like I was being grilled.  In hindsight we should have spoken in private and I shouldn’t have overreacted.  This reaction comes out of past hurts where my intentions were taken wrongly, I was understood or not believed. I was disappointed that I was not asked my side of the situation and was told not to contact the person who had brought up their concerns.  I asked if my apology could be passed on but was told no.  This was quite confusing; I felt belittled, humiliated and totally misunderstood and there didn’t seem to be a solution.  So that evening I contacted the team organiser and was told that the person who had concerns and was offended by me, was wanting to talk to me.  They had already discussed the situation and didn’t know I had been spoken to at church.  Having previously had a few altercations due to my speaking my mind, I decided I should step back from the team either permanently or for a while.  I would look to the Lord for His leading.  Once the discussion was made I felt at peace with my decision. There were other things I wanted to do in the next two weeks and after that we had two weeks of school holidays.  It was also a relief not to have to get up and out the door before 7:15am.  I could sleep in or go jogging and down the beach for a swim.  Unfortunately that first Tuesday I didn’t sleep well as my back had started playing up again and I had an agonising night even with anti-inflammatory.

A week later I received another message saying the person who was upset with me was not retuning the following term and I was welcome back.  I appreciated the invitation, apologised again and said I would be delighted to once again help the team.  This time I’ll try not to be so sensitive to people’s comments.

I had arranged to meet up with Mim at the community garden the next Tuesday.   Glenda came around after doing the church garden and together we went to the garden which she had wanted to see since my return.  Mim and I wanted to go over some things for the amphitheatre seating, which turned out to be more complicated that we expected.  Praise the Lord I thought of Rawden who often helps out with the Tuesday coffee team.  He is an engineer of sorts with his own business.  He was more than willing to meet us in the garden on the Thursday to take measurements which we then sent off to the manufacturer.  He also solved our challenge with the misconstrued path and stage area, suggesting instead we just move the plan for the setting over to the north side to make it all fit.  Unfortunately this meant we would probably have to dig up and replant some of our existing fruit trees but it did seem such a good solution otherwise we would have had to dig up the pavers for the platform and move them and the compressed limestone path further south to make the outlay symmetrical.

That afternoon, my new friend Dave arrived on his bike with more olives.  What was I to say?  I invited him to take a tour around my garden and in for a coffee.  He said if this was his garden he would have taken to it with a chainsaw, there was too much to do and too many plants LOL.  I explained it gave me something to do and kept me busy.  He told me about his daughter who is a horticulturist and had her own small nursery growing plants for businesses.  She also had two horses and snakes.  Oh wow!  I asked when he next went to visit if I could come along as I was into all three of these things and if she wanted she could visit my place.

The other thing which came out of cancelling Tuesday barista duty began when it was suggested I write a book from all my blog adventures.  I sent off an inquiry to a Christian publisher and heard back within days.  During this time I asked around to see what others thought.  Vi-Lay suggested I take it back to my days at Christmas Island to give some background for the present adventures.  This made sense.   I then received a reply to my inquiry and was asked to provide an Introduction and the first 4-5 chapters.  Oh dear I hadn’t thought I’d need an intro, but of course I did.

Quite a few years back I had actually started to take some notes of my past, going right back to my birth and then my BC days (days Before Christ).  I then took my blog notes about the author and the Vision, added and altered this to make an introduction; then started reading through my old notes.  I then thought I’d like to weave a bit more into the story by looking for threads that could tie it all together.  I was excited, this might really work.  I didn’t really care if people didn’t want to buy my autobiography or if they did, I wasn’t looking to make and income, but if I did I’d give the money to help the mission fields I’d visited.   It would be good though if I was able to cover costs and to get into print something that might help others to see the Hand of the Lord in their lives.  I must admit there’s lots to think about and a long way to go as I put things together but I’m hoping it will eventually be printed. Even Kathy my neighbour was excited as she read through the A5 copy of last chapters of my travels to Thailand and Indonesia.  She was already thinking of a cover for the book.

Since then on most of my days when I was not busy I’ve been writing.  It’s amazing how much comes to your remembrance when you put your thoughts to paper.  Mind you there’s a lot I can’t remember including much of my time in Sydney.  I tried looking for my old diaries but I remember I threw a whole lot out only last year wondering why I had kept them for so long!  I searched back through my USB and external hard drives but my files didn’t go back far enough.  Then I remembered we didn’t have mobile phones which took photos in those days so I looked through my old photo albums and loose photos but still couldn’t find the missing years!  I’ll just have to rely on the Holy Spirit to bring to my memory what He wants me to write about.  I can’t put everything in anyway, I’ve already divided it into four books and 11 chapters not including all those that I wrote from 2014 in my blogs.

The Wednesday after meeting Mim at the garden, my ex-barista team member and Bible study mate, Mia, came for a visit.  She had moved to another church and I had missed her.  We made a coffee together then sat outside in the sun for a chat and to catch up on all that had happened since my departure in May.  I was very pleased she accepted the olives Dave had given me as I really didn’t want to make them up as I already had far too many and I didn’t want to throw them out, they were such big olives.  Mia said her husband loved olives so she would give it a go. Finally by the end of the month I had finished pickling and bottling the last of the olives for this season, with still lots on the tree dropping every day.  What a season!  These olives will definitely last till next harvest.

Thursday night was our community garden AGM followed with our usual monthly meeting.  All went well and sighs of relief and thanks to Rawdon from the committee to hear our new plan for the amphitheatre meant keeping the paving as it was.

Friday I dropped off some of Kath’s unwanted clothes to the swap table at Share In.  I later went home with Frances to see her garden in spring bloom and to offer a few tips.  Frances then dropped me at the station where I took a train to Stirling and then bused home via our shops to pick up a few items.  I really am so blessed to be living where I am; close to public transport, shops, beach, bush and church and to top it off such lovely neighbours, well most of them.

Saturday was our gardening day at the community garden which was mostly weeding.  Alan and I fixed the old windbreak which had been battered in the winter storms.  We erected a portable barrier to which we restrung the netting before removing the old star pickets.  I also trimmed the mulberry tree and with the help of Kelly, tied it back between its supporting staffs.  I was surprised to see that weeds with seeds and the oxalis bulbs had been thrown into the compost bins!  I explained to everyone that the compost could no longer be used in our veggie garden beds as it would transfer all the unwanted weeds into our beds!  I took most of the weeds out of the bins but who knows how many seeds were left.  What a waste of such lovely compost!

Saturday afternoon was Elizabeth’s 90^th birthday celebrations at the church from 2pm to 4pm.  There were quite a few of us; several spoke about how Elizabeth had influenced their lives.  She had been a midwife, a hospital unit manager and a missionary during her lifetime plus continues to be a prayer warrior.

My garden is flourishing, lots of new growth on all the plants; grapevines, blossoms on the pear, pomegranate, lime, orange and mandarin trees.  I’m not sure about the new grafts on the fig tree, they haven’t sprouted yet.  I’ve had to trim the verge trees and driveway hedges and of course continue to pull out the weeds which flourished in my absence.  For several days I’d been hearing a little bird snap his beak I wasn’t sure if this was out of a warning or courtship.  I eventually went out to see what it was all about and saw two little butcher birds dancing around in front of the mirrors I’d put along one of the raised garden bed walls.  It reminded me of the mythological story of Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection.  These poor little birds had been tricked by their own refection in the mirror.  I covered the mirrors up which stopped them visiting. Praise God it worked. I will remove the covers in a week or two and hope they have forgotten the reflections in the mirror.  I’ve seen them since zipping around the garden snapping up the aphids and other insects. Then at the end of the month when I was chatting out the front of the units there were about six of them chirping very loudly in my neighbours tree.  It’s such a wonderful sight to see and hear.  I do love having the native birds around.  God’s creation is a wonder to behold.  I love reading all about the science that comes out of His creation through a Facebook group called ‘Biblical Creation’ it’s so inspirational.

The last Friday of September I went into the city by train to meet Glenda, whose husband has helped me many times around the house when I needed a handyman.  She had put word out that conversational English teachers were needed at the Presbyterian Church in the city.  I was interested and went along for a look.  There were students from all over the world coming in to get free English conversation practice.  Both before and after the classes there were Bible discussions for those who were interested.  The staff opened the afternoon with prayer before going to the main auditorium to wait for the students.  There was a welcome and introduction of all teachers who then separated into their individual stations, some in different rooms. I joined Glenda for a short time then dropped in to the other classes to see what they were teaching.  There were 4 different levels of learning; the beginner’s class was where I thought I might be able to help.  There seemed to be less reading of lessons in this class.  I didn’t stay the whole time but left shortly after their tea break at 1pm.   I took the train and bus back home where I had a very late lunch.  I filled out the application form and emailed it off but will still spend some time in prayer before I decide if this is where the Lord is leading.  If I were to take it on it would mean I would be out most of Thursday during the term; would I have the energy?  This Friday was the last day of third term so I had two weeks to decide.

Photos:  1.  Viburnum – odoratissimum 2. Prickly moses – acacia pulchella 3. Flower Dust – Kalanchoe pumila 4. Pink rock orchid – Dendrobium kingianum 5. Elizabeth’s 90th birthday 6. Myrtle-leaf milkwort – Polygala myrifolia

Prayer & Praise Points:

Praise the Lord for the lovely spring weather here in Perth; lovely sunny days, a few cold ones but very little rain.  Please pray we get more rain before the summer comes.

Praise the Lord for His provision, for the new ventures that have arisen, for helping me through some difficult circumstances and decisions.

Please pray that I will continue to grow in the things of the Lord and that I will learn not to react but be more thoughtful before I speak so that I don’t speak out of past hurts or emotional wounds.

I will always be grateful for my home here in Perth, for my neighbours, friends, church family and the things I’m involved in.  I’m truly blessed and thankful that the Lord has provided a home for me here.

Please keep my sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat, in your prayers.  Pray that they will come to know the love of Jesus.  Pray that Jen and Ralf’s time here will be a blessed one when they visit Perth early October.  Pray that Tricia will open her heart and meet Jen while she is here.

Please continue to pray for the Karen families not only in Thailand but also left in Myanmar. Persecution continues as churches are not only bombed but landmines are placed within their grounds. Pray for those applying for visas and permanent residency to join their families abroad.

Pray for world peace, for countries dealing with war, major disasters.  Pray for all those caught up in the suffering these events have caused.  Pray that God’s peace may be known by all people especially for those who live with despair, that they will find hope in Christ Jesus.