Project 289 - Day 287 : Last Full Day at the Ancestral Estate

 I know everyone always remarks on how quickly time goes by, and that it seems to move at light speed the older you get, but these 6 days with Mum and Dad and my lovely siblings have just screamed by like an overwrought diva hurtling around in a glitter haze backstage before her fabulous stage show starts....

It's not like it hasn't happened before - the time passing that is although I am rather partial to a melodramatic glittery haze on occasion, in drag or not - but each year as December races past me desperately trying to reach Christmas Day, I always think that the week or so I have at Mum and Dad's will be languid and relaxed with nary a care in the world... and to a large extent it is just that. There is time to just sit and talk, eat far too many Kipling's fruit mince pies, jubes and Lindor Balls, watch the DVD box sets that have been gathering dust for months, and the outings, such as they are, are really restricted to the occasional swim at the beach (not today due to rain although naturally the rain stopped perfectly at Byron Bay the moment we got there!) or shopping at Bangalow or Byron Bay....

So, so much, so chilled yes? Yes, and I always get back to Sydney feeling wonderfully refreshed. But somehow in the middle of this slow realised festive break, time jumps on roller blades, greases them up, and shoots down the road like a speed-taking bat out of hell. How the languid and the frantically forward moving can exist in the one holiday is beyond me, but co-exist they do.

Today was a perfect example. I started the day with a relaxed chat with my Mum in the kitchen, read the paper, watch the final episode of season 1 of Sanctuary - I must see Season 2 NOW! - surfed the web, read some magazines and snoozed before heading to Byron Bay for more shopping, beach viewing and strolling around with my brother and his girlfriend. The economy of BB thus bolstered, I came home to a delicious dinner of Italian pie (a childhood favourite), curried sweet potato and potato, and broccoli, with a Kiplings fruit mince pie to chase it down. Add in a relaxed phone call to my wonderful friend Kerry, some short chats with my gorgeous guy, a documentary on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and now some blogging, and you hardly have the makings of a frantically rushed day.

But rush by the day has done, and tomorrow I jump on a plane for the trip home, seriously overweight in the luggage dept, and hoping Virgin doesn't notice! But for now, I am at home, my mother relaxing by listening to a CD on church history, and my dad pottering in his study, and all is well.....