Blue Gum (for Lucy)

By Vita Forest

Where you enter

we heard

The angry screeches of white cockatoos

Glimpsed white flashes wheeling in the blue sky

above the silver-trunked treetops

Watched as they swung around and about and around again

As we descended into green shade

You may hear the sound of six species of frogs

And we did

or at least we heard one

singing its percussive scraping

as we picked our way beside the creek

over mossy rocks and

fretted roots aslant

under the lacy shelters of tree ferns

Continue straight to where a track comes in from the left

and follow the blue wren

It was the blue wren that showed us the way

The hop of the wren along the dried spikes of grass

The scratch of the bush turkey in the undergrowth

And down in a dappled gully

A warbling chorus of currawongs

Across the bridge, stop for lunch

Sitting cross-legged by the river and

pinching a peck of grated carrot

on a smattering of grated beetroot

laid on the soft spongy whiteness of

the halved baguette piled with shards of

cheese and khaki rounds of

pickles and leaves of

lettuce and slivers of

translucent cucumber closed between

the covers of two golden crusts

and two rows of teeth.

At the first junction

Walking past the facilities and

missing the ghostly W

that means the girls enter

at the door marked OMEN and

Return to the start of the walk.

This week

By Vita Forest

This week I have been 

READING 

Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (lovely)

The Wonderling by Mira Bartok

WRITING school reports!

ENJOYING the mauve of jacarandas the scarlet of flame trees and the magenta of boganvillea

The mauve of jacaranda at Clarke Park, Lavender Bay

 

HAVING a stressful week at work for various reasons

FEELING grateful for excellent colleagues and proud of children looking out for each other 

SLEEPING in on the weekend 

MEETING up with my lovely high school friends and family extras for a picnic at Lavender Bay

WALKING through Wendy’s Secret Garden

And on the boardwalk towards Luna Park and

STEPPING into Luna Park and

CHATTING with Lucy, Ursula and Gemma and 

VISITING Kirribilli Markets

This week

By Vita Forest

View across to the city from Taronga Zoo

This week I have been

WRITING I want my life to be just like a…

READING The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (again – how fantastic is this book?)

WATCHING the High School Musicals (see above)

WALKING from Thirroul to Coalcliff with my kids and sister Briony

Walking the iconic Sea Cliff bridge near Coal Cliff

VISITING Taronga Zoo with my sisters and kids and seeing the new baby elephant

ATTENDING a lecture at The Australian Museum by photographer Jess Bray and seeing the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition 

SKETCHING at Hickson Road (mighty windy – another spot of extreme sketching) and

DISCOVERING how wonky a lot of those wharf buildings really are

PICNICKING at Castelcrag with Lucy and thinking that Harold Reid Reserve looked kinda like Mt Fuji  from our angle, don’t you think?

SEEING flannel flowers on the way down to the picnic spot.

This week

By Vita Forest

Reflections at Rushcutters Bay

This week I have been

WRITING Mobile Tales 10: in which Christabel is charmed by a singing stone

READING

• The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds by Alexander McCall Smith
• Spark Joy by Marie Kondo which spurred a bit of

TIDYING

Yachts at Rushcutters Bay

LAUGHING when one of my students won a “look alike” competition with a Poo emoji soft toy…

FINISHING a very busy Term 3 at school

SKETCHING a fantastically gnarled tree at Rushcutter’s Bay on a summery Saturday

GIVING myself permission to laze in bed and sleep in rather than doing a yoga class

PLANNING some holiday expeditions and catchups

PICNICKING near the Lane Cove River with my parents and my sister Briony

And here’s that tree again!

This week

By Vita Forest
This week I have been

From Harold Reid Reserve, Middle Cove – right in the middle of Sydney!

WRITING 

• A rabbit goes a marketing
• Some chapters of my novel
• Programs for Term 4

READING Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

WATCHING the Dance Academy movie with Lucy 

VISITING the Harold Reid Lookout in Middle Cove with Lucy for a picnic and a bush walk and

Looking across to Castlecrag

EATING a baguette, cheese, dips and veggies 

ENJOYING some warm spring weather

On top of the ridge at Harold Reid Reserve

BEING surprised by a homemade cake from some of my students baked on a play date 

PLANNING out my week and 

DOING my chores through the weeknights so I had a lovely chore-free weekend 

HOPING to keep up this new habit in the future 

Spring wildflowers seen on our bushwalk

This week

By Vita Forest

Kookaburra at our Fathers Day picnic

This week I have been

WRITING Betty 4 Bob

READING The House of  Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

WATCHING a “vague relation” in  Spiderman Homecoming with my kids

CELEBRATING

• Betty and Bob’s nuptials
• Fathers Day

PLAYING games of Banagrams with my kids after dinner

MAKING Nutmeg cake for a Fathers Day picnic

ENJOYING a crazy warm day on Sunday

Sunny Sunday!

THINKING about ways to simply

 

 

 

This week

By Vita Forest 

View from Middle Head, Mosman

This week I have been

REWRITING parts of one of my novels

READING The Good People by Hannah Kent

WATCHING my class perform our play at assembly (it all went very well and they enjoyed having an audience reacting to the humour).

GOING to one of my Bookclubs to discuss The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith

CELEBRATING Saskia’s birthday on a rock overlooking Sydney Harbour with Saskia, Vastra and Rowdy the dog while

Towards North Head from Middle Head

EATING chocolate cake and

DRINKING tea from a trusty thermos then

WALKING along the ridge at Middle Head, Mosman

Beautiful angophora trees

TRYING a thirty minute decluttering frenzy!

This week

By Vita Forest

Picnic lunch atop Du Faurs Rocks at Mt Wilson, Blue Mountains

This week I have been

WRITING Mobile Tales 9: in which Christabel learns a disturbing fact about whales

READING

• Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
• The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith

WATCHING Big Little Lies

VISITING the Blue Mountains with Vastra and Saskia where we did some

WALKING to

Magical pool at the base of Minehaha Falls, Katoomba, Blue Mountains

• Minnehaha Falls in Katoomba
• around the clifftops of Leura
• around the shops of Leura…

• around Mt Wilson through shady ferns and by bright wattle blooming amongst blackened trees

Cathedral of Ferns, Mt Wilson, Blue Mountains

LISTENING to

• Whipbirds and
• Bell birds and
• Crimson Rosellas and
• screeching cockatoos breaking the monumental stillness of the silence at Du Faurs Rocks, Mt Wilson

Oh and saw this currawong at Du Faurs Rocks, Mt Wilson

PICNICKING

• on a clifftop in Leura
• on a clifftop at Du Faurs Rocks at Mt Wilson

RELAXING in the winter sunshine with a cuppa and our books

 

 

This week

By Vita Forest

This week I have been

READING

• When Rosie met Jim by Melina Marchetta
• Ferragost by Melina Marchetta

ATTENDING a school art show (those Kindy artists are amazing)

CLIMBING down stone stairs and a metal ladder and rock scrambling to go

SKETCHING at the level of the harbour at Cremorne Point and

FEELING the worries of the week wash away in the sun and the wind and the sound of the waves

WATCHING

• Rice by Michelle Lee at Griffin Theatre (intriguing theatre – go and see it!)
• some great teaching at my school during Teacher Observation sessions

PICNICKING on a crunchy baguette and goats cheese in the local park with Lucy

 

This week

By Vita Forest

This week I have been

WRITING

• chapters of my novel and
• Lizzie and the bath

READING Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

WATCHING Dance Academy Season 3 (Aaah!)

WALKING with Saskia and Rowdy from Neutral Bay to Mosman Bay around the headlands and

SEEING this sign at Kurraba St Wharf and

VISITING the pool at Cremorne Point (alas not for a swim) and

ADMIRING the banksia flowers along the path and

SEEING this winsome little creature in the Lex and Ruby Graham Gardens at Cremorne

PICNICKING at Clive Park in Northbridge with some bookish friends and

ADMIRING the view (friends, food, books and beautiful places!) and

CELEBRATING the good life.