It’s such a long time since I posted anything here because I’ve been getting ready to move house. I’ve found a beautiful new place, not far away, in a former orchard where I used to play. This, my current home, has been good to me and I’ve had great pleasure in creating the garden, so I have written my farewell in a poem.
Goodbye Home
Widowed and lonely,
old house sold and nowhere to call home,
I found you.
Timber ceilings and earthy bricks
greeted me beyond your solid wooden door.
I saw potential in your spaces,
imagined paintings on your walls
and curtains on your windows.
Outside, I envisaged the garden
I would plant and come to love.
In your kitchen of jarrah and stone
I’ve cooked for many or just for me.
Music and laughter filled your space
when friends and family came to visit.
On my own, in quiet times,
I’ve treasured the silence
sometimes broken with bird song.
Looking out of the study window 
I’ve been inspired to write –
stories, a memoir and tales of travel;
the ups and downs of life
sometimes melded in a poem like this.
Now it’s time to leave you
and the garden I’ve created,
to take with me the memories
of parties, Christmases, barbecues on the verandah 
and peaceful moments with my lover.
So many photographs of this garden
in winter, autumn, summer and spring
I have to cherish and to inspire the next one,
much smaller, but ready and waiting
for the mad keen gardener in me.