Tuesday, September 29, 2015

#home

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overgrown

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so they know we are home

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we missed this

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shakshuka with our eggs and tomatoes 

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practising her spoonfest skills

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making a magic wand

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We're home!

And it's the strangest thing but most of the time I feel like we've always been here.

Even though we've been away for three whole months, even though we've walked the streets of London and Rome and Paris and Tel Aviv, even though we've seen the Mona Lisa, we've shopped in Oxford Street, we've stayed in an Airbnb right next to a blue domed church in Santorini, and even though we got lost in a down pour in Sienna, now that we're home - we're home.

Everything is so easy, so comfortable and so familiar. I know exactly where the toilet is even when it's dark, I don't have to search for the cutlery drawer, the washing machine automatically uses the setting I like and I get to sleep in the comfiest bed in the whole world.

Our home smells like the forest that surrounds it, like the fires in the cooker and in the lounge-room and like the laundry that I've just hung out. (I can't tell you how relieved I feel that our home does not smell like a dead mouse in the wall or like mouse wee in the pantry like I'd feared, phew!) Our home is ridiculously quiet. Quieter than any other place we've been. If you close your eyes and listen carefully you might just hear the sound of the bore water pouring into the house dam, the song of a bird calling to its mate or the hum of the fridge. Home tastes like the shakshuka Miss Jazzy made over the fire last night, like a long waited for farmer Bren coffee and like juice made from everything we can find in our overgrown garden. Home is familiar, it's part of me.

Home feels like we've never left her.

But every now and then, usually when I'm doing the most usual thing, our adventure comes rushing back to remind me. I'll be knitting the last few rows of a pair of socks when I suddenly remember the kitchen of the Tuscan villa where I first wound the wool and cast on. I'll be walking to the door to let the dog in when I'll trip over a bag of damp bathers from the swim we had in Hong Kong just hours before we left for the airport. I'll catch sight of Miss Indi's I love Italy pyjama top and remember the cute little shop we bought it from in Rome. And I'll look at my instagram feed and see that someone has liked a photo of an impossibly beautiful beach we swam in on the Greek island of Crete.

For those split seconds I am back there, I am hurrying to wind the wool to get out of the cook's way, I am floating on my back in the warm pool in Hong Kong looking at the sky and wondering how long it'll be before I swim again, I am hurrying the girls up in the souvenir shop so we can go and eat yet another spaghetti pomodoro and I am running over the burning hot sand and jumping into the deliciously cool water of the Mediterranean sea.

And then I'm back home getting another log for the fire.


Does that make sense? I apologise if it's a bit mooshy. I have a horrible cold and I feel like my head is filled with marshmallow.

But I do look forward to blogging a bit more regularly now that we're back. I'd love to fill in some of the blanks from the last three months and if that fails then I'll be happy to record this time of landing and finding our feet and moving forward. I'm a tiny bit considering a photo and a paragraph post a day in October, but with going back to school and two birthdays and all the planting and weeding, I'm not sure that would be so wise.

Nevertheless, I will be seeing you soon.

I hope you are happy and well and loved.

Kate

xoxoxoxox

49 comments:

  1. It all sounds so wonderful. I've loved your pictures along the way and I'm so glad all those beautiful happy memories keep popping into your mind so randomly. Feel better. Welcome home x

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    1. Thanks so much for traveling along with us Mel, I loved reading your comments about where we were and what we were doing. I hope you and your gang have a gorgeous weekend. xx

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  2. Sounds like a true homecoming! Hope you can cherrish the memories from your trip for a long time!!

    Take care
    Anne
    Crochet Between Worlds

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    1. Thank you Anne, funny to think that they are memories now. You take care too. xx

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  3. I know exactly what you mean by those snippets of memories. I've travelled the world for four months, we've been to Thailand, to the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Peru...and sometimes when I do the most ordinary things (sitting at my desk at work, standing in the shower, making dinner, cleaning my home...) I get flashbacks and suddenly I'm snorkeling at the Philippines, I'm looking down to Macchu Picchu, I'm paddling on the Titicaca lake or driving through the Australian desert in a hired campervan. And I love those snippets of memories that catch up with you at the most unexpected times. It's been three years now, since I made this journey and I still enjoy the impact it has left on me. It's great that you travel that much with your children. They will profit from those experiences for the rest of their lives!

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    1. I love this comment so much Emm. Thank you. xx

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  4. Your trip sounds amazing but seeing your home photos is even better. What gets better than a family together enjoying the simple things of life together. Happy memories but an amazing home and family to create new ones. xx

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    1. On our way home the girls spoke of how lucky they are that their home life is as good if not better than traveling. Home is home. xx

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    2. That is the sweetest thing! Your travels have given your girls a most marvellous life lesson. Welcome home.

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  5. This is so beautiful. Welcome home xx

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  6. SO good to hear from you Kate. Home is an amazing place isn't it? xx

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  7. Beautiful Kate, just Beautiful. xx

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  8. Isn't it nice to be back? I know that feeling - last week this time, or two weeks ago, a month ago, last year...I love following your travels with the family!

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    1. It's gorgeous to be back. Thank you Stel. xx

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  9. welcome home - how lovely to be here and there when both feel so good! What delicious thing is this Shakshuka? How do you make it??? Rest well x

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    1. Thank you Kirti. I actually am not allowed to know Jazzy's secret recipe for her shakshuka but it's a popular Middle Eatern dish and I'm sure you'd find hundreds of recipes by googling it. x

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  10. Its so wonderful you are back home and blogging! I love these photos, just stunning xx

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  11. What a beautiful post, Kate! It was wonderful following you on your adventures and so glad to see you all back home and blogging again. XX

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    1. Thank you so much, it's gorgeous to be back here. x

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  12. Ah There is no place like home. I am posting our cabin stopover from the weekend, you might like to see. Jo x

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    1. It's so true Jo, I hope you had a gorgeous weekend. x

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  13. Home is ABSOLUTELY the best place on earth...wherever that may be. I've traveled the world, and there is no place like my own bed and the toilet exactly where I can find it in the dark! I understand exactly. :-)
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. Home is the best place, but it's fun to explore the rest and then remember all over again. x

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  14. the whole trip sounds just amazing Kate, how lucky that you can just do it! x

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    1. It really was incredibly amazing Ginny, so lucky. x

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  15. Even though we are on opposite sides of this beautiful planet it's nice to know you are home.

    Stephanie x

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    1. Haha thanks for caring, you made me smile. xx

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  16. Makes total sense. Spent time over the last two years in Hawaii and that time is still a part of my everyday consciousness. Yes there are little memory links in our daily life's ..

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  17. So nice to have you all back here and looking forward to some more regular posts- I missed you! :)

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    1. That's so lovely to hear, yay thank you. x

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  18. Your trip sounds absolutely amazing. I reckon it takes a decent length holiday to make you appreciate what you have at home. I usually come home all full of ideas and inspiration and snippets of memories of far away places.

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    1. Yes!! Me too. I'm so excited to get rid of this stupid cold so I can get moving on all the things I want to do around here. x

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  19. What an amazing trip it was. Thank you for taking us with you. Welcome Home, too. Jazzy's meal looks splendid; cooking over an open fire is still the most luscious way of preparing a delightful repast.

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    1. We really missed cooking on fire while we were away. It is the best. x

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  20. Oh I totally get that, I've been having those same kind of feelings about my holiday and it was only 2.5 weeks. What an experience to be away for three whole months.

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Thanks so much for stopping by...

I do read every single comment you leave and appreciate it very much, but I should let you know that I can be a wee bit on the useless side when replying to comments, that's just me, everyday life sometimes gets in the way....so I'll apologise now, just in case.

Kate XX

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