my beautiful week 15

It's been a busy back-to-school week. On Wednesday I started writing an inspired 'bloggers block breaking post'. And then on Thursday when I returned to finish it, it was gone! Vanished into the blue! Swallowed up by blogspot. Darn!

I'm way overdue on 'my beautiful week 15' but here I go - and hopefully I'll hit Publish Post before the banshees get it.

On Sunday I turned 43. Forty. Three. (I still have a little trouble saying it out loud).
I don't feel 43!
And I could swear yesterday I was 25. Where did 18 years go?
If I'm not careful tomorrow I'll wake up and be 61!

But Daniel Francois Esprit Auber wisely said 'Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life'.

Having longevity in my genes I fully expect and intend to be around for at least another 43 years. I just want to make sure that I make the most of every one of them and I don't turn 86 thinking 'where did the last 43 go?'
So that is why I will continue to write.
Writing compels me to pay attention, to notice my life as it unfolds each day and to find the beauty which is here right now.
I will write to record, to remember, to communicate and to explore.
I will write as long as I can breathe.
As long as I can see, smell, touch, taste and hear.
As long as I can string a coherent sentence together at the end of each day.

It has been a beautiful week. This is what I saw:

- A large soft brownpaper-wrapped parcel is waiting at the post office. It has travelled all the way from Cape Town to Auckland and arrived two days ahead of my birthday. I hug it too my chest and it hugs me back.

- An envelope addressed to me, bearing 6 stamps depicting 4 Lilacbreasted Rollers and 2 Whitefronted Bee-eaters arrives in the mail. I love birthday snail mail.

- I receive a signed copy of Karen Maezen Miller's latest book 'Hand Wash Cold' which I had ordered off her website. Inside the front cover she has written 'Dear Kathleen, Attention is Love. Karen Maezen Miller'

What have you noticed this week?