Spring has sprung

Spring in Queensland is not my favourite season but, so far, it has been gorgeous. Blue skies, only a bit of rain early this morning and then warm days. Winter is usually dry (except ten years ago when it poured raining all winter) and the garden looks great.

My parents drove up from Broadbeach to visit us yesterday for the day, and we took my two little dogs and enjoyed a walk to meet David from the train at Wellington point station. He'd been to an exam at university and looked quite drawn. This subject has been a struggle for him, but I'm sure he'll get through as he usually does.

I have been editing tonight. This is a part of my edit:

Just before the storm, they had not cared what other people thought. Now the clouds of life were set to engulf them. Andrew had tried to squeeze into the box set aside for a family man, but he was finding that he didn’t fit. He looked around him and saw fathers soaking up every moment spent with their children, securing memories, disciplining with love and caught up in their youthful spell. He thought how fortunate he had been with his own step-father and tried to learn from him but, if he was honest with himself, he found it impossible to imagine how that man had slipped into their lives without causing so much as a ripple. His mother’s second husband had fitted into their family box so well, that Andrew had a new sense of respect and a depth of compassion for him now. How had he done it? How had he blended into them as he had? As a child, you accept things easier when everything is warm and comfortable so Andrew gave as much effort as he could muster to ensure the children were feeling safe and their well-being was of paramount importance to him.
As much as he endeavoured to befriend them slowly, he felt a growing impatience to step into that family box. Earlier he had felt sure that he would fit. Jenny had insisted on shared custody of the children, so he knew he had to fit. It was so hard when the box was not empty to begin with. If he had returned to her all those years ago, the family box would have been empty and eagerly awaiting the entry of children to share their lives, but when he peered into its dark space now, he felt he might not fit no matter how much he tried to. It would require time and exercise and he had a sense of time running out for him to squeeze his gangly arms and legs inside the box before the lid shut permanently.
Andrew realized it was the only way he could be with the woman he’d fallen in love with, and the only way he could feel this sense of liberation with her was to be inside the box with her family. But he did not feel he was free any more. Love was supposed to set you free, but the longer he stayed here, the more he felt trapped. There was no sense of liberation from the mundane any more. He had felt that very strongly when he met her the first time, and when he met her again at Heathrow. A surge of escaping from the boring, mundane walls that had closed in on him over time. She broke the doors down; one by one the walls dropped until he had found himself standing in crystal fresh air, the warm sunshine of her embrace electric and her dark eyes made his icy heart melt. He gulped for air and looked around himself now.
He had not imagined anything getting in the way of them being together but he felt a sense of Jenny pulling away from him and he had to admit he had doubts too. He felt an urgent need to break out of this family box to resolve his doubts. Andrew felt he was suffocating and the feeling shocked him. Despite fears of losing her again, he would give Jenny the space she craved. He reached for the phone and dialled the travel agent.