This week I am celebrating being fully retired, all the paperwork that needs to be sorted & signed off on when someone dies is done & dusted. The fabulous tax agent in Katoomba sorted both Rod & my final tax returns + cancelled my ABN as I don’t make enough out of my art to warrant having one, I feel so free! I can go bushwalking every day when the weather is fine & when the mist settles in stay home & make whatever wants to fall out of my hands just for the joy of it!
My eyes have deteriorated radically this year so the new light combined with new glasses for seeing distance and new lenses for my reading glasses will keep me happily making and reading for the forseeable!
It's Crow Time 
Mo, it looks like you’ve settled in really well into your new life. The wilderness is beautiful and that bike really is a boon, giving you mobility and range. Be careful near those edges – exhilarating but scary from my experience in Blackheath. Bummer about the eyes but you’ve obviously found a solution to continue your artistic life free from the societal shackles. Much love, Graham & Jenny
(((Graham & Jenny))) I hope you two come up and visit !
I see you! I feel the free.
(((Jude))) you have trail blazed feeling free for all of us!
Freedom! Those rock faces really capture my heart. May you enjoy these days of bike, hike and making. (((hugs)))
(((Nancy))) Magic Days!
Good for you Mo…to have your time now be your own…to set your days as you see fit, to wander and wonder and come to know the marvelous place where you have landed…to have all the time you need to create. It is such a gift, this expanse of time and the days justt fall into a rhythm of their own…
(((Marti))) loving how I can wake up not knowing what day it is and just do whatever happens next or even just do nothing at all except watch the day unfold!
Yay Mo!! Retired and off the leash. What a landscape to escape to.
(((Dana))) l love being a Blackheathen!
Fantastic scenery. It must be an absolute joy to go for your Wanderings in such a lovely setting. Then to go home and sit down to create a new art piece. You are definitely living your best life and I am so happy for you!
My eyes are getting old too so I wonder if you could tell me where you got this lamp from. I’m interested in buying one.
(((Lana))) Serious Readers make their High Definition Lights in the UK & they are brilliant. Once the order is processed they send it via Fedex, it arrived safe & sound on my door step within a week, here’s the link
https://www.seriousreaders.com/products/high-definition-table-light
Thanks I’ll put an order in pronto
my toes were tingling just looking at those edge shots … but wow, what amazing views!!
congrats on officially retiring, but sorry to hear about your eyes … I can relate … glad you’re finding workable solutions
(((Liz))) am so happy to be able to stitch with a single strand of silk & paint the fine details with a 000 sable again! I was trying to cope with the blurring that was happening with double vision, wondering whether the effect could be incorporated to create a shimmer and barring that I was going to have to start working with much bigger brushes & needles !
Hi MC – free looks like a sturdy steed – just the thing for rough terrain and distances. Pleased for you that you have the light and glasses sorted. Go well. B
(((Barry))) Free is a heavy beast and can cope with a bit of loose gravel but she is not a mountain bike, on the rough & rocky steep bits the bike has a walk button so she self propels. I just slip off & walk alongside on the tricky bits then hop back on in the smoother bits! & yes, feeling so relieved I can get a few more years out of these old eyes!
forseeable. I love you, Mo. Big Time.
(((Grace))) and me to you, your words and photos over in Windthread give me a reality handle that helps to settle down the deeply disconnected days…
A lovely post, Mo. I am so happy for you in your new life!
(((René))) it’s a long time dream come true!
Those edges seem so close… I am not good with heights. Be safe! That looks like an amazing light/lamp and it makes such a difference. I remember doing the blurry edges, going with my instinct and memory around calligraphy too – a good magnifying light has helped – but yours looks rad! PS I really liked the heathland on your way home in the last post too.
(((Fiona))) I love being close to the edge and am not afraid of heights but go very carefully when I’m out bushwalking on my own. Was happy that other walkers were in the area and didn’t attempt the walk down the cliff face to the next viewing ledge on my own,, will save that for another day when my old high school friend Jolly comes up for a bicycle ride!
The Serious Readers light is the next step up from my fabulous Daylight lamp with the big magnifying lens that Rod gave me back in 2013 which wasn’t doing the trick this year. The optometrist explained that I have lost 80% of the vision in my right eye so my left eye was having to work very hard + the stress of this year meant that my mind was no longer able to make up for the loss of vision and my eye heart hand coordination had come undone so I am learning how to see and draw and stitch all over again…
Hi Mo the new glasses are very good !! and the bike as well !! and the mountains !! I have trouble too with eyes and will get 3 new ones! wonderful mountains and house take care Renate
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(((Renate))) hope you and the cat are feeling all settled in up there in Port Macquarie and that you got some fun frames for the new glasses!
Wow. New vistas in so many senses of the word. How far are these trails from your new home? Just spectacular. I can’t wait to see how you create from a place of greater freedom.
(((Dee))) Hanging Rock is a 5 km bicycle ride from my place along a fire trail that is mostly easy going, in the washed out steep bits I just hop off and push the walk button on Free that self propels her!
What a grand place! Awesome. Love you xox
(((Judy)))