September 2025

Hi friends, and welcome to a recap of our sunny spring weekend. I’m so glad you’ve stopped by! Saturday It was Father’s Day last Sunday, but we weren’t able to celebrate together then. So this weekend we had a belated Father’s Day get-together. Our eldest son Luke came over, and it was lovely to have lunch and catch up. We don’t see him as much as we would like, with work for us, study for Sam, our youngest, and the 40 to 50-minute trip it takes to come over. Anyway, it was so good to see him and hear all about what is happening in the world. I have mentioned before that I avoid the news at all costs. Of course, things eventually trickle down to me, and I find out what is going on. But mostly, I am more than happy not to know too much because it gives me so much anxiety. Luke is our facts guy, and I don’t mind hearing what he has to share. He has a way of explaining things so clearly, and now all my fears are perfectly justified. Yikes! We spent the afternoon talking and eating. For lunch, Steve made a slow-roast lamb. Yep, now he’s even cooking for his own celebrations! 😂 For dessert, we had Princess Cakes that we had in the freezer from one of our trips to Ikea. I’m so glad they have brought these cakes back again after being MIA for three or four years. Sunday Sunday was like the perfect spring day. With all the rain we’ve had over the past few weeks, the soil in our front garden was nice and loose, so Steve was able to pull out the old lavender bush. It was lovely when it flowered once a year, but most of the time it was woody and weedy. So I made a trip to Bunnings to pick up some colourful flowers to plant in its place, and when I got there, it was so busy, full of spring-inspired gardeners. I also bought some seed-raising mix and cress seeds because I have an idea for this week’s preschool craft. We are going to make grass heads! I put together this picture on Canva so the kids will know what I’m talking about when I explain it to them. This should be a fun activity that ties in perfectly with learning about spring and the life cycle of plants. Let’s hope Miss Ruth, the non-gardener, can pull it off. Fingers crossed! Back to my afternoon of planting. This time, before I went off buying random plants, I did a bit of research and picked up Petunias, Violas and Alyssum. According to Google, I even found out how to plant them, how far apart to space them, and what should go in the back, middle and front. Now I just have to look after them. Good practice before we do the grass heads with the preschool kids. And because I was sad to see our lavender bush go, I ended up buying a lavender plant. This time I’ll keep it contained in a pot. I also bought a jasmine plant. Wonder how long I have to wait for the sweet-smelling flowers to grow? And that was my warm and sunny spring weekend. I know the best is yet to come, with plenty more sunny days ahead. I’m so excited for summer. That is, until I come across the first giant cockroach of the season and start thinking maybe winter’s not so bad after all. No gross bugs around in winter! Happy Monday! Linking up with Holly and Sarah

Hi friends, and welcome to the September edition of Share Our Lives. Today, I’m sharing 5 things I like to do in each season, from winter to summer, spring to autumn. Let’s go! Winter I love lighting candles. Plain IKEA tapers, tea lights, scented, unscented, any warm glowing flame makes me feel a bit cheerier about my least favourite season. Yeah, I don’t like being cold, so I’ll do whatever it takes to trick myself into believing I’m not. For me, that often means having a virtual fireplace video with crackling fire sounds on my TV screen. Eat casseroles! Yum to chicken or beef casseroles on a cold night. Drink Swiss Miss hot chocolate, with or without marshmallows. I’m not fussy about the marshmallows, but the hot chocolate has to be Swiss Miss. It’s the best I’ve tasted, and I’ve tried all the ones our supermarkets sell: Jarrah, Cadbury, Lindt, Nestlé. None of them comes close! I wear chunky bed socks because if my feet are cold, the rest of me is cold too, no matter how many blankets I’ve got on me. Phew! I had to dig deep to find five things I like to do in winter. Now it’s time to move on to my favourite seasons, spring and summer. Spring I am in no way a gardener, but there’s something about the excitement of seeing sunshine and flowers start to bloom that makes me want to grow something, anything. I usually make a trip to Bunnings to buy some potted flowers for the front garden. Then I just try to remember to water them and pray for their survival. I love sitting on my front step and smelling my neighbour’s jasmine in the villa opposite ours. The scent is so strong it wafts right over, and what’s even better is that if I leave the front door open with just the fly screen, you can even faintly smell it inside the house. It’s spring over here, and I’m planning to go to Bunnings this weekend. Maybe I should buy a Jasmine plant. Open the windows and shout hooray, it’s spring! Only kidding, I just open the windows—there’s no shouting. Go to a spring fair or Oktoberfest. My sweet, kind friend and I usually find a spring fair somewhere. Last year we went to Cronulla… or was it the year before? Time goes so fast! Every year I say, “We should go on a picnic.” Spring is picnic weather, don’t you agree? I need to organise one pronto! Summer When I host Cousin Connect in the summer, I like to eat in our courtyard with the long fold-out tables, fairy lights on, music on and pretend we are in Italy. Drink Aperol Spritz Count down the days until the summer school holidays and get ready for Christmas. Find a rooftop bar, listen to live music, and enjoy the evening lights. I enjoy going along to my husband’s swim club on Sunday mornings when they have socials, like BBQs. They do amazing BBQs. We missed last year’s season because he gave himself a year off after his knee replacement, but this year he’ll be back. Notice I haven’t mentioned swimming or any water activities on my summer list. I’m more of an eater than a swimmer, and sand is definitely not my friend… unless I’m in Hawaii. Autumn I don’t love autumn at all. To get out of my funk about summer being over, I like to watch YouTube videos of cozy autumn living in Nordic countries. Cooler weather always looks better on the other side of the world. Eat apple pie and ice cream. I could eat it any time of the year, but somehow it cheers me up in autumn. Watch Hallmark movies that are “fall” related. Autumn looks like so much fun in the Northern Hemisphere. There’s pumpkin spice everything (not that I like the flavour very much, I want to love it, but I don’t), apples, crunchy leaves, scarves, boots, and of course, Halloween. All the cozy vibes I wish we had here. Celebrate Easter! Count the months until spring. Humbug. So there you have it, 5 things I like to do in each season. If you’re reading from the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll notice we do things differently over here in Australia because our seasons are the opposite. And here’s a fun fact: there are actually more countries up north than down here, which is why autumn leaves, pumpkin spice, and all those cozy vibes are happening while we’re still enjoying summer. And yes, that also means Christmas happens in the heat. Here, you can even find Christmas postcards that show Santa riding a surfboard instead of a sleigh. Funny, hey? Linking up with Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, and Sarah