Each year my parents celebrate their wedding anniversary by taking their daughters, us, away to a seaside town an hour away from our home for a few days. No partners, no kids, no pets allowed.

We’re in desperate need of some sunshine to warm up the soil to grow our vegetables, fruit and flowers. It’s such a short growing season here in the mountains, in the forest, and I’m terribly worried that there won’t be enough time left to grow the plants and to ripen the crops before it gets cold again. It’s already the second week of calendar summer, I don’t think a little bit of heat is too much to ask. Please!

I’ve been sitting here for the past hour having all sorts of issues loading this page to write my blog. No matter how many times I tried to open foxslane.com.au, it just would not load. Oh my goodness I hate tech issues! Why didn’t I think of this part when I decided to write my blog again? How could I forget that out of control, out of my depth, clueless feeling? Seriously!

Weirdly and completely unexpectedly, Jarrah and Pepper both went off to school camps this week so Bren and I decided to cash in one of my birthday presents and spend a few days in a Melbourne hotel.

It was the most incredible privilege to have no plans, no interruptions, no dramas and nothing else to do but live in the moment for three whole days. We walked for miles, we talked non stop, we ate yummy food, we did a bit of shopping, we read books and caught up on Succession, we unwound, we appreciated, we took stock and we made plans. It was exactly what we needed: a circuit breaker.

Before I started writing my blog again, around the same time that I was having my pre-birthday crisis of confidence, I thought a lot about my relevance in this space. (I know, I overthink everything - that’s just my thing). I don’t have cute little kids to take on cute little outings anymore. I don’t spend my days making patchwork dresses, I don’t bake cookies for school lunches and I don’t throw elaborate birthday parties. Time has moved on and my interests have changed.

Oh my goodness, I am completely overwhelmed by your responses to my first blog post back! Thank you. Thank you all so very much!!

One of the things I thought a lot about while I was considering firing this blog back up again, was whether anyone would come and read it. The online landscape feels like it’s changed so much over the last two years. There’s so much scrolling and tapping and snappy sound bites and quirky comments, I just had no idea if people would be prepared to invest their time into long form posts. I myself am often guilty of looking for the pretty pictures and ignoring the words.

A few weeks ago I was scrolling through my old blog looking for a photo when I was struck by the incredible beauty of it all. I feel a bit embarrassed saying this but it’s part of the story, so I must. I don’t think I’ve looked back on my blog since I stopped. But this time I really did. I looked carefully at the pictures, I read the words, I smiled at the stories and I felt the love. It felt like such a rich record of 10 years of our lives. 10 years of creations, memories, frustrations, passions, thoughts and feelings.