The Great Outdoors

I started off today feeling sluggish. I had plenty of sleep last night, almost seven hours to be exact... most days I exist on five or six. So it wasn't due to lack of sleep. I ate a nice, substantial breakfast of muesli & yoghurt, raisin toast with butter. So it wasn't hunger. It could have been the dodgy tooth... upper left side of my mouth... which has been niggling at me for weeks. Or it might have been my repeated failure to squeeze into a pile of my favourite 'pre-pregnancy' clothes. But whatever it was, from the neck up I felt dull and fuzzy and everything seemed just a little too... hard. 


By the time it reached 9am, I weighed up my options. Either I would succumb to the mood, write the day off and set about cleaning the house (which was in serious need of a good go over) OR I get my sad and sorry backside out the door and into the world, for some carefree time with my boys. Thankfully, I opted for the latter.


Centennial Park, in my opinion, is one of the most exquisite locations in Sydney. It posseses a tranquility all of it's own. Geographically convenient, being nestled among energetic suburbs, main roads and the bustling city. It's almost incredible to fathom how a park like this can thrive in such surroundings. Generating it's own adaptable ecosystem of wildlife, vast open spaces and awe inspiring trees and plant life.


For us, it is an important sanctuary. A place we go to play. To picnic. A place for celebrations and parties. To think. To dream. Somewhere to meet up with friends, feed the ducks and laze in the sun or shade. Whatever the season, it always holds something for us. 


Today, as Angus and I strolled the long circular path in the centre of the park, Felix snoozing in his pram, I honestly felt that fuzziness, that dull ache consuming my head, gradually lifting and fading into thin air. By the time we reached the playground, it had vanished completely. I felt... myself again. The hours to follow were spent lapping up the golden sunshine and having some genuine quality time with my big boy.


As it turns out, the housework is now completed too! Washing? Done. Vacuuming? Done. Bathroom? Sparkling clean. It never ceases to amaze me, what time spent in the great outdoors can do for me. These shots are a vibrant reminder of this fact and I shall refer to them on future mornings like today, when it all seems too hard.