journal

Hello friends,

How are you feeling? How has your week been? How is your weekend looking?

After I wrote an entire blog post about feeling flat and heavy last Friday, I woke up on Saturday morning feeling different. A bit brighter and more energetic. It felt like by articulating the dull, bored feeling, I’d gotten it out of my system.

For the past few weeks, every Saturday morning I’ve been walking around the Daylesford Lake with my parents, sitting at a cafe afterwards to drink a cup of coffee. Sometimes it’s just the three of us, and other times Bren or one of our kids comes along too It’s been such a beautiful thing to do, such a highlight of my week. It’s great to get the exercise, the lake is particularly beautiful at this time of the year, and it’s really special to spend the time together off the farm, away from all of the distractions.

When we were about half way around last week my dad came to a sudden stop and asked my mum to take a photo of the lake. It looked incredible. Just like a postcard. The sky was brilliant blue, the trees were a deep green, and the sun was sparkling off the water. It felt magical. And I thought to myself how lucky I was to be sharing that moment with them. That moment and the similar moment most Saturday mornings.

After my mum took the photo we walked on; past the spot where we once watched baby ducklings, past so many cute dogs and their owners, and on to our coffee spot. And I made a deal with myself to try and recognise and photograph one or two moments every day of the coming week that felt good. That made me feel happy. And hopefully by stopping to notice them and being really aware of them, it would help me pull myself right out of my flat pancake phase.

So here they are, my moments from the week. Some were extra special, some were actually quite ordinary. Some were preplanned, some I didn’t even realise would make the list until afterwards. Some farmy, some crafty, some homey. Kind of like a gratitude journal, but also not. Of course there were so many other special moments during the week, but these were the ones that I came inside and wrote down, and these were the ones I took photos of.

SATURDAY - Well obviously the walk and the coffee were Saturday’s special moments, but while we were there Bren took Jo jo for a haircut and that definitely has to make the blog too. I’m not sure if you saw it on my instagram stories but our poodle only gets a haircut once a year, so the before and the after are quite momentous. He truly looks like a different dog. Before his haircut he is shaggy and wooly and looks like an overgrown sheep. After his hair cut he is sleek and soft and cute and almost like one of those Melbourne dogs we see each week walking around Daylesford Lake with their visiting humans.

SUNDAY - On Sunday morning Alli, a friend of mine, messaged me a photo of a double page spread from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald’s Travel section. It was an article all about traveling around in a van and about my book. I squealed with delight and then I visited five different shops before I could get my hands on a copy. The girl at the supermarket checkout who eventually sold it to me seemed most unimpressed when I opened it up for her, but I didn’t care. It’s actually a great article and I’m thrilled. Fingers crossed it helps sell a few copies of Vantastic too.

You can read the article online here - Have van will travel.

And you can buy my book Vantastic in bookshops all over the world, or by clicking this link here.

MONDAY - On Monday we cut the goats’ toenails and moved them into a new paddock. Not exactly glamorous, sometimes even stressful when they don’t like it, but it’s one of those jobs that is always on the to-do list and once it’s done and crossed off you can’t help but feel like a better animal looker-afterer. Plus the new paddock they’re in runs alongside the driveway and I can’t wait to watch their progress as they trample the weeds and eat all the blackberry and broom.

After that we continued shovelling wood chips into the garden paths. Partly to define the beds, partly to suppress the weeds, partly to add organic matter to the soil, and mostly because it makes the garden look so neat and beautiful. It really makes me so happy

TUESDAY - On Tuesday I decided it was time to push myself up the hill back into my ceramics studio. It was hard, and messy like I thought it would be after all this time, but I was kind to myself and started very simply with some hand-built vases. And after a while I even started enjoying myself.

I know they look like primary school children made them, but I’m okay with that. I’m just getting the feel back for it after an extremely long break. And when they’re glazed and fired and filled with flowers, no one will notice the vase shape anyway.

Hopefully one day soon I’ll be centred enough to have some wheel-thrown work to show you.

WEDNESDAY - On Wednesday I washed and dried my sheets on the line in the sun. Then in the late afternoon when they were dry, I made my bed and jumped back into it to read a few pages of my book. It was such a luxury. I tried my hardest to revel in the moment and not to spoil it with guilt, but it wasn’t too hard to be swept away by the pages of Hannah Kent’s latest book Devotion.

I’m only 100 pages in, so I don’t have all that much to say, but like Hannah’s other books, Devotion, the story of 14 year old Hanne Nussbaum in 1836 Prussia, is thoroughly researched, the story telling is magical and I can’t wait to read more.

During the week I also read and loved The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. I think I read the almost 400 page book in two days - thanks insomnia.

The Paper Palace is a beautifully constructed and told story that relives the lifetime of 50 year old Elle at her family’s cabins - The Paper Palace - in the course of a single day. In the present there is a choice to be made and the past is everything that leads to that point.

There is some really disturbing content that offended a lot of goodreads reviewers, so maybe have a look through some of them if you’re thinking about picking it up.

THURSDAY - yesterday Bren came home after a few days away labouring at a family construction site. All day as I went about doing the chores and then picking veggies to cook for our dinner and flowers to scatter about the house, I felt excited to see him. It’s such a novelty to miss someone you usually spend 24 hours a day with.

FRIDAY - which brings me to today. I woke up early and did a class at the gym, I came home and ate breakfast and watched a sneaky episode of a reality tv show (please don’t judge me) and now I’m writing to you. All pretty ordinary and yet quite special moments in their own way.

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions of ways to pull yourself out of a funk. I read them all. I put many of them into practice. And I marvelled at how similar we are despite the fact that we are scattered all over the world.

I have had some reports of comments going missing so I’m going to see how we go with changing the settings to allow comments to pop up as you post them. Hopefully that helps alleviate the problem. Let me know how you go.

Also I’d love it if you shared a few special moments from your week. I don’t care how ordinary or extraordinary they are, as long as they meant something to you.

Hopefully I’ll be back next Friday but I’m having a little surgery done on Wednesday and I have no idea how long it’ll take me to recover. Hopefully not long at all.

Sending you love and hoping you have the time you need to do what you want.

My heart is with all those who feel unsafe in the world.

Be kind.

Love, Kate x