european summers and frangipani dusks

Ahhh, summer is on it's way. The clocks went forward on Sunday morning and already I can feel the national mood lighten. It's really quite extraordinary, especially for me after growing up in sunny Sydney and living for a number of years in sub-tropical Brisbane, how much of a difference a few extra hours of light makes.

Two years ago I spent a month in Croatia at the end of summer; it was absolutely divine. I stayed with a friend of mine and we travelled all around the countryside, landing up on the island of Hvar, just off the coast of Split. There are not words to describe the beauty of this place. So off we trooped to see a friend of her family, Domagoj, who had this amazing little restaurant, which was set on its own private beach. Not as simple as I initially thought, this place could only be reached by boat from the town or by walking through bushland, along the jagged coast of the Adriatic, for about 40 minutes.

Upon arrival, I fell in love. It was a simple place with no airs and graces but the surroundings and the quality of the food immediately catapulted it to one of my favourite destinations on earth. Each day over summer, RESTAURANT ROBINSON-MEKIĆEVICA opens for lunch and serves the most amazing fresh seafood and out of this world domestic wine. We decided to stay for a few days and sleep under the stars on the beach. For five days we ate, drank, swam and by night watched a trillion stars with not another soul around. As for bathing? Well there was a toilet at the restaurant (one of only a few modern conveniences) and a Lush store on the island - so I bathed in the clear turquoise sea with my environmentally friendly (and swoon inducing) lush bath products. Yep, there ain't nothing like a European summer.





As happy as I am about the arrival of summer, the whole not working thing is really getting me down at the moment. I feel so dependant upon M for everything, which is the most horrible feeling. Even if my relationship were perfect, I still would never want to be comletely reliant upon a man. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my visa will be sorted sooner rather than later. My only other choice is to go back home and work for a few months whilst a decision is made or until I become eligible for a spousal visa. Given that I've done 5 australia-europe flights in the last year, that is not something I'm too keen on. Ah well, it'll all work out in the end.

On the topic of keeping one's chin up, I read a very amusing article in American Elle a few weeks ago. It advised readers that when feeling anxious or depressed, a sure fire way to lift one's spirit was to write down 3 positive things in their life, each hour, on the hour. It then went on to say that if you couldn't think of anything, then write down "I am calm in the face of impending disaster". I don't know if I'd quite have the vigilence to record my "happpy things" however, it did make me smile. Even chuckle a little.