Where Would I like To Live?

Blogaissance Letter 1 December 2023

Dec 04, 2023

The Nook. Beautiful private garden at Monbulk..

Hi there my letter loving family!

How goes life in your neck of the woods my friends? There’s been an east coast low devour my part of the world for the past week and while I’d like to say I took advantage of being stuck inside and madly crossed things off my ‘inside to do list’ while bopping away to Brian Adam’s Summer of ’69 and the like, alas, there’s been a bit of bopping but not much crossing.

Mostly, there’s been lots of listening to melancholy piano music as the continuous rain drops slid down window panes obscuring any view from my sitting spots. It’s been quite therapeutic and, in contrast, a little confronting at times as sadness gently found its way to the surface… causing raindrops of my own to run down my cheeks… which meandered back around to that therapeutic feeling… tears are the way our body tries to reset itself when things feel out of balance… that’s why we feel better after a good cry… maybe the earth here felt out of balance too… possibly a lot out of balance because there has been a lot of rain… hope it feels better too.

I’m not afraid of my sadness despite the occasional confronting challenge it may pose. I don’t see it as something that needs to be fixed or gotten rid of. Its intensity and force rise and fall like an internal tidal river going about its natural ebb and flow.

Nothing to fear.

Sometimes I even welcome its arrival and sit engulfed in its presence, wrapped in its arms of familiarity… for it feels like the only thread of intimate connection I have to those no longer here. Some days it can feel like a stabbing pain in my chest but generally it feels like a gentle cradling of my bruised heart… a quiet place to fall when the endless, emotion filled tasks of grief and bereavement become too much.

October and November saw me take a few little road trips to private open gardens.

Turning off the highway and winding my way through the undulating countryside that is magical Nerim South, and other days onward to Monbulk and Olinda in the Dandenong Ranges, was such a tonic.

I always seem to breathe a little deeper and walk a little slower in these landscapes. I don’t have any photos of my own to share because I was surrounded by such enchanting creations of these homeowners’ visions that I walked around inhaling it all and left my phone in my pocket.

Never do I feel more at peace with myself than when I am sitting under a tree surrounded by garden and the buzzing of the bees and the chirping of the birds while gazing upon rolling hills and delightful valleys. (Pictures featured are from Val’s Instagram page shared with permission).

I have been fortunate enough to live in a few houses over my lifetime that have afforded me the privilege of open spaces and some pretty nice vistas to look out over. I feel so lucky to have had these opportunities and at the risk of sounding ungrateful for all I have now in my current residence in town I’d like to think that one day I’ll again find a home and garden somewhere tranquil amongst the trees, the birdsong and countryside I love so much.

Until then (if it ever comes to fruition) I’m doing my best to create a haven here, inside and out, that I feel good about coming home to inspired by the lovely homes and gardens I’ve recently visited.

A girl can dream of barn conversions or cute little cottages draped in rose vines nestled on the edge of eucalypt forests looking down over creeks and valleys full of fairytale wonder because I know they exist! I’ve seen them. But I also need to feel content and at peace with where I am now… and if the country dream never happens for me then that’s okay too… I’ve already had some other dreams come true and I’m more than okay with those being enough.

In other news

Did you know that once upon a time I used to be a blogger? In 2014 I started writing on the internet with my own website ‘Sandra Kelly What Lies Within’. I was very sporadic with posting (some things never change) but enjoyed the connections I made along the way over the last (almost) ten years.

That blog is still live today but I haven’t posted there for a couple of years and despite declaring that I was going to close it down (it’s a little expensive to keep live) I haven’t had the heart.

Why did I start a blog in the first place? I was shattered after my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2013 and went searching on the internet to see if I could find anyone who wasn’t glossing over trying to live life through any kind of adversity.

What I found was people speaking their truth and writing personal stories via blogging. I was hooked and fell down many a blog reading rabbit hole.

In my very first post titled ‘Why Did I Survive’ written May 10^th, 2014 that you can read here if you so wish, I explain what prompted me to start sharing my own truths on the World Wide Web for any one to see.

The short version is that I was so buoyed by every day people putting themselves out there for others to connect and to mine nuggets of gold from their sharing that I wanted to do the same. I wanted to add my voice to the fabric of that personal story telling tapestry providing comfort and ‘me too’ moments for others who may be searching just as I once did (and still do).

Blogging seemed to go out of favour for the quick captions of Instagram etc and longer form writing wasn’t embraced as the cosy fire side chat it once was.

Although, the times do seem to be swinging back around again with the birth of Substack newletters and the like. Plus, like many others, I have become a little disgruntled with social media.

Facebook gives me the shits most of the time (I’m telling it like it is) and sometimes when I log in to my Instagram account I often question if I’ve logged into fb instead. The friendly vibe and more personal visual photo sharing is not what it used to be. Why so many ads?

I was, however, very pleased to read a post on Instagram recently by my blogging friend Carly Jacobs saying she was feeling pretty much the same way too. Carly still writes on her blog Very Excellent Habits and with her friend Christina from Hair Romance they’ve decided to launch a renaissance of blogging.

They have declared to write once a week on their blogs for the next three months, starting Dec 1st, and have thrown out a call for people to join in and bring back the love of long form writing and reading. (Note – long form writing can be defined as anywhere from 1000 words or above. I fall short at typically around 800 to 900 most of the time. But lets not split hairs).

Carly is calling it a blogaissance!

So, I’ve decided to become a groupie of this blogaissance. If you’ve been thinking about starting up your own blog or Substack newsletter this is a great time to start.

I’ve listed some of my favourite writers of the internet below (and I know I’ll sit bolt upright at 2am remebering someone I should have included) so you can check them out and get a taste of what I’m yabbering on about. I’ve also listed some links to the gardens I visited last month as well.

That’s it from me this week. I’ll be back this Sunday with another letter so watch your inbox.

Stay safe,

Love Sandra Xx

I love hearing your thoughts so please leave me a comment. If you are a writer please leave me a link in the comments so I can swing by and say Hi!