For this two-month duration, we have taken refuge and found solace in Florey which is a tiny suburban outskirt in one of the many districts of the Australian Capital Territory. Whereas Canberra the capital city governs the domestic affairs of Australia, Florey to us, will remain a distinct landmark etched upon our fond reflections.
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Our preferred habitat is certainly for an equatorial climate and so, we really miss the homely attachments of Singaporean flavours. This is definitely due to a force of habit more than anything else, our keen attachment to a little red dot.
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Yet, subconsciously, we notice a new fringe emergent from our short stay on this eastern sub-continent Down Under. It is a promising sapling for future enchantment nonetheless. A seed once planted will surely grow into an edifice of its own creation.
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Here, there is obviously a disconnect and a paradox that cannot be bridged. Yet, it will forever reside in our collective consciousness: a home away from home. Surely, that feels sufficient.
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Which noisy city-dweller can acclimatise quickly, and even accept the detached, slow pulse of rustic sensations resident in the autumn equinox impinging upon a street called Hamlet Place? Not many, I would cryptically conclude.
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Surely, only a simple few can bear with such a happening. Yet, reality is like a breezy zephyr. Count us in this small circle of slow tortoises. A surreal feel of Zen motifs come to mind in this quaint recall of stillness. But, it is a good feeling, tender and true like a meditative calm, or else a profound koan!
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When we first arrived for our stay over, we felt the unique strangeness of this suburban retreat. During our temporary domicile, this serene brick house has kept us warm and comfortable, even secure in our stern imaginings.
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Somehow, this reclusive shelter even filled our days with solitary silence and placid contentment. Prayer was in the feeling of quiet contemplation that followed our footsteps through the house. No spoken words can match the finesse and charm of stillness. For stillness is lavishly healing and profoundly creative.
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Unsurprisingly, we feel a deep gratitude for the efficient wall insulation and the central heating that have made the freezing temperatures outside less caustic on our skin. Despite the thermal shock that ravaged our bodies, we kept warm in flesh and blood with loving-kindness and empathy. Coming from an equatorial climate, we were naturally not accustomed to a harshly cold atmospheric ambience.
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Mr Shakespeare's spirit did not take residence during our time at Hamlet Place. But, the poetic and extravagant Muse did accommodate deeper yearnings for stillness, silence and somnolence.
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I witness a personal outpouring of natural whimsy that manifested in many curious bouts of wonder and inspirational writes. Such writes were spontaneous and often profound in a simplistic way.
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It turns out that our residence here sublimated delightful sensations that are beyond simple explanation nor contained in complex gratification.
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All-in-all, a touch of happy juxtapositions in imagery, climate and daily routines. Plus the inspired outcomes of thoughtful glimpses and deep writes in verse rhymes and storylines, co-habitating with self-coaxing persuasions!
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Late into a month's stay, I was introduced to an impressive and lonely lemon tree at the fence edge of our backyard. In the near distance, I happily glimpsed the tints and shades of fruitful lemons dangling ostentatiously in the mid-afternoon sunburst.
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Yes, sparkling yellows and green vintages outlined all over the shrub of a tree. A sense of succinct delight and curious wonder consumed my energetic composure. After all, if life gives you lemons, enjoy pure lemon juice!
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A day later, I found myself harvesting these fruit offerings with the gusto of a child gone wild. Somehow, plucking fresh fruits from a real-life tree is akin to ecstasy and rapture for a city-dweller like me!
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Approaching each mature fruit with attentive discovery and sheer delight, I cut each lemon and dropped it gratefully into a small bag. And I repeated the deliberate process as I circled round the tree with eager expectation. It was a bumper harvest of eleven fruits.
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Just yesterday, a Monday, I harvested another eighteen lemons. I took a photograph of the lemons arranged in the face of a lemon smiley just for fun and a memory keepsake.
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Perhaps, there and then, I could feel the lemon tree sigh in relief that this autumnal season's fruitage would be well-received with grateful gusto.
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No doubt, these organic fruitage had the familiar sour sparkle when the juices were squeezed and mixed with either iced cold water or lukewarm water, for a refreshing drink of zesty oomph. I felt a happy flow of instant satisfaction surge in my guts.
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Autumn is now leaving us with wintry chills as most of the foliage is gone on most trees that must weather the winter with empty branches. Sleep comes soon enough for such trees that must endure the freezing winter. Greenery is still evident in some shrubs and hedgerows, here and there, signalling a feisty spirit of adventure and colour.
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Strangely enough, the sun dances in the sky but the heat that comes through the cold air feels cool and cold rather than hot. Darkness comes early around five o'clock in the late afternoon but it feels more like eight post meridian.
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Overnight, the temperature can plunge to below zero degrees like minus five on the Centigrade scale. Evening is truly icy cold outside even with warm clothing.
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In the morning, looking out the kitchen window, I spy the green grass verge and blades of grass frozen with a dense hue of fine crystal icicles.
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As the sun rises, dewdrops form and in a brisk moment sublimate leaving a lawn hue of morning grass that speak of fresh vigour and deep endurance. This is a clear reminder of the evergreen motif of Mother Nature. It's a very inspiring and sensorial feeling that impacts the soul most significantly.
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An echo of a familiar voice from a well-known drama tells me: "Winter is coming." And I do not relish the wintry weather for fear of the freezing temperature. But, I do fancy the romantic feeling of falling snow just for a while, even for a brief excursion.
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Autumn declines as the cold weather lifts the veil of a frozen winter solstice on the verge of rapture. Gone is the autumnal paradox of a warm feeling oozing in-between the draughts of cold temperature inclinations.
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Now, it's slowly freezing. We know it instantly when we turn the tap and the gushing water is freezing cold to the hands. This is especially so when we have to wash the dishes, pots and pans and other utensils after meals. Fortunately, we have heated water that keeps the cold away for a while.
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Even when wintry cold envelopes this frozen consort, the misty sun makes a random appearance as we venture outdoors to get a better glimpse. Somewhat dreary looking, the air is misty and the sun looks grumpy enough to show up!
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By the time we reach the end of of brief staycation here in Florey, this quaint neighbourhood is witness to private ministrations where people keep to themselves mostly. Surely, if each of us does their own thing well, then surely good will turn up. That's a sure deal, no doubt.
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Privacy is surely people doing their own thing, or minding their own business, or making a living resourcefully at their workplace. We see this sojourn here as one of the unmerited blessings we enjoy. Encountering this private indifference that holds this esteemed estate in its own sense of sacred space has been a defining milestone for us.
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As temporary occupants on number nine Hamlet Place, we are so lucky to spend our days attending to the domestic chores associated with baby care. Yes, Ann and yours truly have come Down Under with Clara to be with our son Michael to live for a while -- these sixty-odd days here -- with their infant baby boy Axel Caleb who is now a bit bigger as a 108-day old.
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Yes, we do concur that our grandson is a bubbly bundle of bouncing bravado with a proclivity to saunter between bouts of happy smiles and cranky tears as most infants seem to buzz through winging their way through the passage of time.
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Time has a way of telling on us. Yes, this timely retreat to a quiet vicinity on the vast Australian sub-continent had worked its charm on all of us for certain. We feel a certain measure of well-being far from the bustle of a fast-paced Singapore culture.
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We do encounter reality with our keen sense of personal perception and vibrant curiosity. This is the magnitude of our interaction with a strange environment that impacts our physical space. This reflects our reaction to what we encounter, and the circumstances that instigate our relative senses.
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I feel the approaches of a curious streak that unveils its meandering ways upon my whim and fancy. Since our arrival at this remote locale, my curious eyes have sought to stamp their mark on certain landmarks in this neighbourhood. More for a sense of direction and a compass to set my own bearings as I move around occasionally. Mostly, it is sheer curiosity seeking to know what's going on out there.
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Here my personal encounters with the ordinary nuances of time and space show me the way of commonplace miracles and wonders of life unfolding briskly.
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The only way to view these revelations are through the eyes of the soul -- rather than merely looking at the outward manifestations of change, mundane routines and the occasional inspirational highlights.
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There is a certain spirit that unveils to the conscious awareness a deeper meaning than the first glimpse evokes. Each of us sees things differently, even for the same thing.
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Yet, in our sheer delight in simple pleasures, our differences bring insight and give accord to what binds us together rather than what separates us as human beings. Essentially, we are truly much more alike and alive than we think otherwise.
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Despite our varying mood swings, our appetites and our desires border upon a common passion for self-indulgence and kinship at the same time. We have the strange ability to rise above fear and conformity by choice alone.
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Beauty and truth of form seems to massage our sensorial well-being with a sparkle of delight and insight. In the convergence of our differences, we find meaning and acceptance awaiting our attitudes.
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So it is certainly not strange -- as the salient facts may seem to differ -- that beauty points us back to the sublime knowing that we human beings share a common and comical oneness. This really is the unbreakable bond that unites us, each to each, ever within reach of our common humanity.
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As I first pronounced to myself -- in my Journey Journal entry when I first arrived -- I now know for sure that I have had many more things to write about. Yes, even as the finite moments mix and mingle with my private affairs of body and mind.
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A meeting of heart and soul eclipsed in a swirl of sheer delight so many times before upon these nonchalant suburbs. In my experience of cosmic wonder, I know that I will most certainly illustrate my thoughts upon a brief moment of random whimsy or fancy, be it here and now, or else at a later date.
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Yes, I choose to simply amuse myself with writes that include frugal meditation and calming contemplation, as well as the ecstatic rapture of stillness and silence.
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So many instances of inspired modes of poetic outbursts happened in a flash. I exulted in frequent writes as my feelings gushed out to meet the typical and the mundane routines of daily living containing the vitality of miracle moments.
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I remain resolute to entertain my solitary meanderings on or about Hamlet Place that will come to a close soon enough. As the autumnal equinox cedes to winter solstice in a brisk convergence of poignancy, I feel vindicated in my extraordinary adventures in living the mundane routines vividly.
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Acceptance is, to me, the easy avenue to greet whatever comes my way on the main street of life. A optimistic attitude is my way to face life fast and furious, and the ordinary moments that wear a look of the plain and the mundane.
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Life is indeed a blessing on so many fronts. Acceptance is the key principle in moments of change, and strange visitations.
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I will certainly expose and explore more of such interesting commentaries that will come to fore soon enough for my own mental health and well-being.
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I foresee that I will experience and encounter more of such private intersections for my personal consumption in due time.
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To usher new scripts for my tablet device to conspire as dashing signposts of a memory walk keepsake, I will keep my joy juices ready at hand.
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Writes tell me where I am, where I've been, and where I am heading as words trek moving episodes in my Journey Journal page.
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Let it be so then as I conspire to glimpse my journey passages as I live, laugh and love with purpose and passion.
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Here, I conspire daily with a zestful siesta to keep my stamina up tempo as I engage and I explore vistas, visages and mirages that come into view in the desert of unhurried dreams.
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As the sun sets on Hamlet Place, I bid you a fond farewell until we meet again in another story elsewhere on this good earth. Adios amigos!
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PS: Over an extra long weekend in June, from Saturday to Monday, we took a road trip from Canberra to Sydney covering about 400 kilometres roundabout.
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We lived in a rental Air BnB apartment on Pine Street in Little Bay, on the outskirts of Sydney city. It was a lovely apartment with a lovely view of the sea. We used the place as our base.
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From Little Bay, we drove out to explore the city sights, visit notable places, feasted on delightful meals, and had a wonderful time as a three-generation family.
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This road trip merits a separate story. I will devote another write and story about this road trip on another occasion. So be it.
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