Yes, it sure has been a day or two since I felt I had the time or energy to blog again. I had an accident just after Christmas, nothing too serious and my own silly fault. You'd think I'd know by now to watch where I put my feet when on uneven ground, where a trip could result in a serious tumble down a bank and possibly into a dam. The knock on the head meant I couldn't focus long enough to prepare a blog post and with only one working arm it would have been difficult anyway. And sitting did not agree with my broken rib.
Time, as they say, is a great healer and proved so in this case. Time and the healing of physiotherapy.
Just before Christmas I'd been offered the position of manager at the lodge/school camp in the forest next door to where I live. (http://www.thelionslodge.co.nz/) I had been thinking it over, trying to decide whether I had the physical fitness to handle it. In my knocked about state I convinced myself that when I recovered I'd be as fit as a fiddle. As it turned out, in my fuzzy head I had a much younger fiddle in mind.
It's taken me a while to adjust to being so active again, to learn the ropes. I think I'm right now. I love the time I get to spend in the bush, the interactions with the teachers and students who come for school camps and the various groups who use the lodge at the weekend.
Every time I go to the lodge I cherish the moment where I leave the road in to the forest through neighbouring farmland (above), come to the forest boundary and enter the bush.
I just love the times I get to sit quietly by myself, usually while I'm waiting for guests to arrive, and watch the light gently filtering through the trees.
or sitting delicately on a leaf
