Hallo Reader, 

and welcome to my newest collection - a combination of two of my previous books - 'Seeking Serendipity' and 'A Miscellany of Meme-oirs'.

 It seemed to me they were blurring too much into each other and so here is the result - a merger of the two into  -

'A Meme-oir Anthology'.  

There will be old and new memes, tales and quotes to entertain you, and one day the time will come to close those 'golden oldies' and let this 'newbie' take over completely. 

Enjoy the ride. I surely am!

The Barbra Streisand song suggests how beautiful memories can be... some so painful to remember, others impossible to forget.

And whilst I've been writing of farming memories, and favourite things, and childhood memories, sometimes there's a photo that captures my imagination - or a verse, or a thought. The one above was an early step in the development of my first cover. I found myself once again embellishing my words or my photos - or someone else's I search for to find the most appropriate ones I am free to use. But it's always best of all making memes out of my own memories and thoughts. I like that a lot. 

One beautiful sunset I photographed here on our farm spread across the sky in all the fabulous colours the end of the day can wear. And it created a line of thought that went like this - 

By the sunset of your life, many hopeful sunrises have melted in the heat of the midday sun... but the best persist, and shine even brighter at the end of your day.

And I played with the photo, and tried out the sweet and gentle old-fashioned charm of sepia tones, and suddenly the whole cover came together for me. As always, not a 'professional' cover... but SO me!

Hiraeth, (pronounced here-eyeth], is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. The University of Wales - 'Lampeter', attempts to define it as homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, or an earnest desire for the Wales of the past. - Wikipedia 

Hiraeth is a longing for one's homeland, but it's not mere homesickness. It's an expression of the bond one feels with one's home country when one is away from it. - Urban Dictionary 

And this Wishful Thinker has never left her homeland, Australia, and believes she never will. The bonds of love bind too tightly; the fear of loss is far too great to risk losing something so infinitely precious. There are two songs to make me more than a little misty-eyed every time I hear them  -

'I am, you are, we are Australian... '    and -

'I still call Australia 'home'.

For your enjoyment, what follows is a collection of thoughts and scenes, words and memories that are dear to my heart and soul.