upside down moon . the stars . planting by the hemisphere
Are questions more important than answers. Is shorter better? Do regular visits make for healthy writing? Is gardening art?
I think questions are more important than answers. Training ourselves to ask; why. And to ask; is this right? And to ask; is this acceptable. Or even; if this is daring enough. But most importantly to ask; is this recipe even tested?
When I change hemispheres I deliberately change my thinking from imperial to metric.
And never think backwards. From Fahrenheit to Celsius, from right hand rules to left hand rules. From US dollars to AUS dollars. Straight into the time zone I am in. As I walk off the plane. I do not do calculations - just drop straight back into where I am. Late summer to late winter. I step into the next location and snuggle in. I have decided not to ask my brain not to do those equations because some questions have been asked and answered already.
Plus. It is easier that way. My maths is shit.
Be where you are. I say to myself.
I am questioning whether I should try harder to get back into a rhythm of posting. A newborn baby put the spanner firmly in the works. What days do you prefer for a post? Good question? Stupid question?
Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to have higher engagement rates. The marketing gurus recommend publishing between 10 am and 2 pm (Eastern Time) on those days.
Are you one of the people who read your long form posts on Tuesdays avd Thursdays? Because I still find myself reading in the weekends, and doing deep cleaning on the weekends, even now, when I no longer work a five day week. What is with that? Actually there are a lot of retired people on this street and they still do their lawns and wash windows on the weekend.
Anyway back to writing and reading. Thank you so much to all those who joined the conversation here ⬇️ .
You made sure your voices were heard both in the comments and in my direct email. Your comments are a very real part of our conversation. Don’t underestimate the power of the comment.
The city garden
We are at the stage when it is just too cold to plant yet. September is very very early spring. Frosts could still pop in. But. The days are warmer and the nights are going to be warmer very soon! ☺️😂. And as usual - I can’t wait.
I need to go down to Bunnings - (a similar shop to Runnings in Illinois) to grab a few things but the garden section is dangerous territory for me to go into unsupervised. I cannot help sliding just a few more plants into my bag.
And my daughter said if I dig any more garden she is going to take the spade off me!
In the meantime the peas are growing merrily in the tomato’s garden. I have planted two zuchinni under the tote cloche. (Way too early obviously). There are tomatoes hardening off in the potting shed and (due to some nasty cold days while I was gone) I had to restock the worm farm!
Should I shift the worms into the potting shed next winter?
Do you read Neela’s work? She was talking about CEO’s being replaced by AI. Her tongue was only a little in her cheek.
But she mentioned how huge CEO’s salaries are which made me think of how much good part of the CEO’s salary and tax right offs could benefit the world at large. Social programs for kids auditioning for jail anyone? After-school programs that rock! Trees! Real well built reasonably priced houses surrounded in well staffed clean parks with multiple tree houses to play in. Imagine the architecture of affordable housing if real money was spent on the structures. What about huge public lakes stocked with fish-able fish? And the parks wind through the housing. And the board-walks. Imagine! With receptacles for dog doo doo at reasonable intervals. Rescue dogs walking programmes for kids. Old folks homes nestled in with young families gorgeous cheap housing and child day care in the old folks lounge. I would be happy to put AI in charge with one good handler and turn their yachts into school cafeterias with real food and sell those gold toilets to fund art classes.
But honestly. How much money does a person need anyway. More is not the only answer.
Crap. I hate talking about money.
Good lord - am I a commie?
Date and walnut loaf that failed. But every failure brings an answer.
Otherwise how did you discover it was a failure. Failures are all in the interpretation. Own them. So you can fix them. Keep reminding yourself of that.
I will remake this loaf recipe made with almond flour with a little yoghurt to help with the crumbliness and a little orange zest to lift the taste profile. Then we will see. Stand by for the new recipe!
While the majority of my readers / yes that’s you - are in the Northern Hemisphere getting in your late summer gardens, making ‘end of the garden relish’, down here in the Southern Hemisphere we are preparing for our spring gardens.
My garden beds are dug and compost spread. I have completed the mandatory seed shuffling in my fridge. And now I begin to sow a few of those seeds and collect a few plants from the garden centre to give us a jump start. We have visitors arriving for the Christmas week. Christmas Day is in 110 days. And many plants take 90 days to from sowing to fruition so I want plants in the ground soon!
Feeding family is my favorite thing!
Did you know that in the Southern Hemisphere water turns into the plug hole in the opposite direction to the Northern Hemisphere. This is called the Coriolis effect; large-scale movements (like trade winds, ocean currents, and cyclones - and toilet water - if you will excuse the pun 😆) spin in opposite directions. Cyclones rotate clockwise in the south and counterclockwise in the north. Light switches switch off by flicking them up. We drive on the left hand side of the road and the moon looks upside down - or right side up depending on your geographical orientation.
Writing the word Southern Hemisphere makes me think of stars. Aren’t we funny with our word associations.
I know I am in the southern hemisphere because I have the southern cross in my skies.
If you’re gazing up from Melbourne tonight (4 September 2025) and want to spot the Southern Cross (Crux) you’re in an excellent position: this constellation is *circumpolar from your latitude (~37° S), meaning it’s visible all year and throughout the night.
We can’t see the Southern Cross from the farm in Illinois of course. The Southern Cross never rises above the horizon anywhere in the continental United States
But right about now my cows can see it’s “cousin,” the Northern Cross (Cygnus), it is high above the farm in Illinois in late summer evenings. Unlike the southern cross the northern cross has a central star so it really is in the shape of a cross.
*circumpolar means a star or constellation that never sets below the horizon and is visible all year round.
Did you know that to get an Australian drivers license I show them my American one (plus a few random bits of identification paper) and they convert it to Australian. No need to take a drivers test. Phew. After fifty years of driving I am not sure I would pass! I got my first drivers license on my fifteenth birthday! After school - in my school uniform. Imagine that. No probationary period - straight onto the road. The practical tests were taken by traffic officers in those days (I can’t remember doing a written test) and he said (the traffic cop) he said“ Well you are not a bad driver, just not a very good one.” But he still gave me a pass. 🤣
I wandered off topic again there!!
You are an artist too
Although I am all about the garden now (my primary art form) - I find myself already working on the children’s Christmas cards. The grandchildren get hand made cards each year - stuffed with money.
I have nine cards to draw so it is never too early to start. In these troubled times I find close work very soothing. And as pen nibs get finer so does my work.
This year I am going to mount the cards on card - so far the kids have no concept of art as precious, often they are ripped open in pursuit of the money 🥹 but I do not interfere, (I will just make it harder for them to rip) - some are pinned on fridges and or tacked to walls all over the world. Children see almost everything as disposable and easily replaced - this makes them brave, and bravery is important.
I believe everyone is an artist. Maybe in your garden. Decorating a table for dinner. Organizing your fridge ( personally I take great pleasure in a well ordered fridge). In your walks. Sewing. Or your kitchen. Or water colours. Or pastels. Or photography or pen and ink like these. All art.
I hear baby crying. Soon he will be brought in to me for the morning shift. Morning shift is so much easier now that baby is three months old!!
So I had better sign off here. Or once again the day will take over and your letter will loiter.
Here comes baby! The door barely opened - in came baby and mum retreated back onto the dusky dawn to get a little sleep. This baby does not believe in routines!!
Have a gorgeous day.
Celi
A gentle ramble through the aisles of Cecilia's thoughts
Thanks for your southern hemisphere comments. When I was in Patagonia two years ago, I had some trouble orienting to the rotated night skies. Plus, there were lots of new things to see in constellations and asterisms. Fascinating stuff.