Evening delight

I was tired and not really in the mood, but had agreed to go with B to a friend's place for a sundowner. As I left the house I thought "what I really want is a good cup of tea."


These friends have a lovely, lovely property, with views down to the lake (Lake Macquarie) from almost every room. On a sunny clear-sky day the lake sparkles blue and the trees almost glow in their greenness and the whole is a total delight; on a grey day the lake is silvered if calm or ruffled dark when the wind gets up but the whole is always life-enhancing. Our hostess was feeling miserable with a horrible cold, but in her usual determined good-humoured welcoming manner, was not going to let that get in the way of anyone else's enjoyment.


The thought of tea went out the window! B arrived soon after me, and together with our host we went for a meander around the garden. The blueberry ash has soft tasselled small pink flowers dressing its branches, and the native frangipani flowers cast their sweet subtle perfume on the evening air. B picked some of the latter for my hair, and took some of the former for cuttings. The flowers wouldn't stay in my hair, so I stuck them with the blueberry ash stems into an empty wine bottle - and hey presto, we had a casual flower arrangement on the kitchen bench.


It was a good start to a lovely evening which evolved into an impromptu dinner. Our hostess took her horrible cold off to bed with her quite early, and not long after I left the men yacking and came home with my tiredness. The guys must have been having some good conversation - it was more than an hour before B followed me!