I haven’t been brilliantly well. Please don’t worry, it’s nothing serious – just a couple of non-fatal, age appropriate “women’s issues” – but it has been oh so wearying. I just wanted to let you know why I’m not online much at the moment. I’ve been taking it easy.
As a result, this month’s snippets are quieter and gentler, but they’ve made me happy nonetheless. Let me catch you up on what’s been happening.
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We’ve been celebrating Chinese New Year! A quiet one for us this year, as it’s our first year without Dad. I’ve been making angpow fans and chocolate treats…
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I’ve finally (finally!) tracked down a good place to eat hot stone bibimbap. It’s my favourite Korean dish – all the ingredients are piled over rice in a hot stone bowl which keeps the meal piping hot as it’s eaten…
Bulgolgi in Strathfield is a fabulous restaurant – it’s set up in a small house on a side street, and at 7pm last Wednesday night, it was packed with Koreans, both milling on the lawn outside and occupying every table. Because the house is quite small, each room only has a few tables, giving it a very cosy feel. All the banchan in the photo below came free with our bibimbap….
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On Hallmark Day (our house name for Valentine’s Day), Pete and I popped into Circular Quay to visit the MCA. We wanted to catch the Mikala Dwyer installation before it finished…
As we’re members, we also went to the Grayson Perry exhibition. It was glorious. I’ll be writing a separate post on it when I get time…
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Pete bought me a couple of fossils as a Hallmark Day gift. This mid-sized cleoniceras ammonite has unusual black crystal formations. I can’t stop looking at it. I said to my adorable husband..”I love fossils!” and he replied “lucky me! You could have loved diamonds..”
The second part of my gift was this whole ammonite fossil, still with its pearlescent red sheen, and the imprint of a small orthoceras shell in the side. I like to think it might have been the ammonite’s last meal…
My friend Pete Jones drilled a hole in my baby fossil for me, and I’ve been wearing it on my sterling silver chain as a pendant. I find myself rubbing the flat surface with my thumb – Mum asked me if I was planning to gamble, as it looked like I was rubbing it for luck…
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I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. My new favourite author is Claire North – her novel The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is a fabulous read. It’s well crafted, compelling and beautifully elegant. It’s 80 odd chapters long, but I read the whole thing in two days…
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I haven’t been sleeping very well, but the upside is that I was able to catch the planets before sunrise recently (Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter are all aligned at the moment and visible to the naked eye).
And just as the sun is rising, our little homemade chandelier (which is still up from Christmas) provides a brief Pollyanna light show…
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It’s funny the things that make us happy. Chores have slipped a bit here, and a couple of days ago I saw Small Man put a load of washing into the machine. He didn’t complain that he’d run out of clean clothes, he just did something about it.
When I got up the next morning, I found that Big Boy had taken out his brother’s washing, hung it up for him, then put a load of his own clothes into the machine. We are so blessed to have kids who just quietly pick up the slack – they don’t whinge, nor do they demand thanks or praise for helping out…
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Wishing you all a very happy weekend! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Sorry to hear you haven’t been that well. I hope things come good soon.
Hopefully you are feeling better soon. The ammonites look beautiful. It’s nice when the children pick up the slack and pitch in to help without complaining. Little things can be such a big blessing to us.
Enjoy your weekend! 🌹
Those are good boys there, Celia. Hugs to you an ocean away and over the blogosphere. Those health related issues can be quite wearisome — I do hope there is a spring in your step again quickly.
I do hope you are feeling a little better, my friend.
I don’t seem to have had much time for reading of late, but do love to spend a few days deep in a book – I’ll have to check this one out.
Hope you are feeling much better soon! As always, love your photos! Take good care of yourself.
Glad you’re feeling better. It is exhausting to be “out of sorts”. I love your blog!
Your version of taking things easier still makes most of us look like slackers, Celia. I sympathise, having gone through years of the women’s business stuff, but am happy to report feeling better in my 60’s than in most of my 50’s. I love Grayson Perry’s work and wish we didn’t have our travels planned already or I would come to Sydney just to see it. Thanks for the sneak peek, looking forward to the expanded post. Lovely that your family steps up and helps around the place. Take care of yourself. xx
I’m nuts over the pearl necklace!
Not pearl Bee! Sterling silver ball necklace.. :)
Holy Crow!
what beautiful ‘things’ you have in your post…gifts and boys/young men. The worst is not feeling quite right. The not quite right is the worst. Hugs, me
Hope you feel better soon Celia. I was saying to a friend how strange it is that l didn’t notice those hormones when l had them, but, boy do l miss them now they are gone:)
As you have been in my thoughts with hopes matters were not drastically wrong it has been great to read your ‘gentle’ post . . . I also love bibimbap and the restaurant name will be passed on; oh, would have loved to see both exhibitions if had not myself just spent a few weeks in hospital; love your baby fossil pendant: truly one of a kind and am about to go order the book from Amazon: have already had a peek! Your sons: well, they have always been great . . . now let us just hope that the ‘miseries’ are somewhat treatable and do not involve much pain and that Father Time takes care . . . best wishes . . .
Thanks for your concern Eha, and I hope you’re on the mend now too! Growing old is hard work! :) Hope you like Claire North as much as I have (I’ve just read another one of her books).
For any Australian readers: my very, very favourite on-line ‘Booktopia’ had both hard- and paperback at v reasonable prices: even to my country abode they deliver in about two working days . . . looking forwards especially after reading more readers’ comments, all 5-star!
Sending sunny wishes to you feel better soon.
Time to be kind to yourself Celia. Thanks for the book recommendation. My breadbaking is far exceeding expectations, thank you for sharing a little of Priscilla, she definitely likes to party.
I’m sorry to hear about your ailments Celia and pleased that they aren’t life threatening too but still, it doesn’t make life any easier. Sending lashings of energy ( not that I have much to spare being an oldish dragon as in the year of). The fossils are rather lovely: my youngest son Jack collects fossils and gets quite excited when he sees a new excavation to explore.
Sorry to hear you are unwell Celia, but pleased it’s not serious, just what most of us get as we age I guess but sending healing thoughts your way..take care :)
Hope you will recover soon from what ever needs to get out of your woman system. I love your post, because it’s so full of real daily life. Get better dear blog friend.
Best wishes with resting up. So much loveliness in your life to sooth the pain and grief you must be experiencing as well. What wonderful fossils and your chocolates look gorgeous. Sending you warm thoughts.
Lovely post, Celia…so sorry to hear that you’ve been “a bit poorly”. Glad you’ve been taking things easy and hope you will be feeling much better very soon. Your gorgeous boys are a credit to you both. Take care. x
Hope you recover your health very soon but cherish yourself and take it easy until then!
So sorry to hear you have been ill Celia. Rest up well, let your wonderful family talk care of you and know we are all thinking of you with love x
Hello old friend, that’s what our relationship feels like. I know we are strangers but I enjoy your company and your sharing. You always bring positive feelings into my life.
Hi love… saw your note and hope that you are now feeling better… this matter of being a woman of a certain age is a pain at times, isn’t it. Thank you for the round up… I might look and see if the library has the book you are recommending. I’ve just read several books over the course of a few days too. Lovely to let other things slip while you make time for more important matters, huh. xx
I had the same thought as Ardys… your version of taking it easy would leave me needing a nanna nap. I figure we get this old because we’re resilient… but take care anyway. Wishing you all the best :)
Much love to you Celia.
:-) Mandy oxoxo
The fossils and that necklace are stunning! Sorry about what you’re going through – I sympathise and empathise completely. Not sleeping really doesn’t help as it’s so hard to get through the next day. Take care and a big hug xxx (and bless those boys of yours!)
Did you know that Grayson Perry comes from my home town? Sadly, we aren’t all blessed with his genius. We were once in a restaurant and my sister commented that GP had just walked in. “Which one is he?” asked another sister. “The only man in the room wearing a Little-Bo-Peep dress and a handbag on his arm.”
Hope you perk up soon.
Thinking of you so much…. at this stage of your life :)
Thank you so very much for sharing at this time.
Your boy’s are more than to be proud off!
What an uplifting post – sharing such beautiful things with us! Your fossils are gorgeous, and the little one makes a fabulous pendant.
Take care of yourself, and pride in your wonderful boys.
I hope you are back on track soon. Look after yourself.
All the best Celia.
Sorry to read that you’re having health problems – hope they can be sorted out soon (or that passing time eases them!).
You say you feel blessed to have such helpful sons, but it’s credit to you and Pete that you have raised them so well!
Wow, I miss Sydney…. actually not Sydney itself just all the things you can do and the food you can eat :)
That bibimbap looks so delicious, I was salivating! Oh and what lovely men you have, it is a testament to you love, care and affection for them and how they have been bought up, so nice to hear something positive about our next generation :)
Liz xx
P.S I hope you feel better soon!
Hope you get through this quickly Celia, be good to yourself. I do think the your low energy would exhaust the rest of us.
Congratulations on good parenting to have taught your youn men to be so considerate.
I’m so sorry you haven’t been well, I too am going through some age appropriate crap (as the Dr. in emergency put it) so I can totally sympathize with you. Your fossils look beautiful and what a clever way to enjoy them on a silver chain.
I hope you feel more like yourself very soon, hugs and happy thoughts from Toronto.
Such a sweet post. I want to live in your world. Enjoy & feel better soon!
They bibimbap looks great. I love Korean food – it never seems to catch on in Australia. Hope you are on the up and up soon.
As I like to say “getting old is not for sissies” – and it is so true! Even when no serious health problems happen (knock on wood), the little annoyances of the body not performing as it used to – eyes, muscles, stomach, joints… BUT it beats the alternative, right? And all I can say is that I hope whatever is bothering you will be gone and you will be brilliantly well again
I am in love and awe of the necklace – such unique piece of jewelry! Wonderful!
Ever so true Sallybr. As my then teenagers used to say “life’s a B…h and then you die. As I get older it seems true sometimes.😘💜
So sorry to hear you are under the weather. Great kids to pick up the slack without complaining…
Glad you’ve been taking time out when you need it. Reading a book in two days is a real luxury isn’t it. Hope you feel tickety boo soon.
I’ve been fiddling about for days trying to work out how to send you my ‘Pollyanna moment’. I think I’ve done it here
I was thrilled to think that somebody else remembered Pollyanna and the prisms ….. such is my little world – and I have now, unwittingly, created my own youtube channel! Watch out world! I’m sorry to hear you’ve been less than your usual steampump-self, Celia. At some point in our lives Mother Nature seems to think she can start messing about with our bits and things go bump in the night, never to be seen again. Bloody cheek, I call it. I love all your beautiful snippets – especially your pendant and your boys’ washing. Your beautiful hands give so much to other people – it’s lovely to know your boys will do the same.
Sorry to hear you have not been well, get better soon xx
For someone not feeling brilliantly, you have a wonderful positive energy and a grateful eye on the world. Thanks for sharing!
Sorry to read you’ve been unwell, Celia, and hope you’re on the mend. I share your love of bibimbap but have never attempted to prepare it at home. I know I should but then what would I order next time I’m in a Korean restaurant? I also share your love of fossils. Being one myself, I fell that I’ve a special affinity with them. :)
Best wishes that you continue to appreciate the little good things in life. Womenlivinglifeafter50.com
Your kids are amazing!
Enjoy resting for a bit Celia. Hope you feel better soon