Dear Stacey,

Thank you for your beautiful letter from 21 March. A few days have passed and I have been desperate to write back, but again…life. We are scrambling to the end of term here. We did well this term on the whole but I am craving some slower days and sleep ins. We don’t have many major plans for these holidays which I don’t mind and with petrol being the way it is (and all the things that it means which weigh on my heart) I feel encouraged to just exist in our Autumn garden and make the most of little fire-pits, damper, bike riding, gardening, knitting with friends over cups of tea.

I haven’t got to the studio much lately. It feels like a deep ache when I don’t. I have been knitting a lot though and weaving. I finished a wee pair of Frozen inspired socks for my little one. So not my colour palette but she adores them! For some reason one ended up smaller than the other, but I am going to ignore that because I need to move on! Lately I have spent a lot of time at the soccer field and Futsal sidelines so knitting is a good companion for that.

I’ve felt quite up and down these last few weeks since we last wrote to each other. I think hormones have a lot to do with it. All the things we have to deal with as women of a certain age… sigh. Some days I draaaaaaggggg my butt to the gym (and always feel better afterwards- the movement and social aspect of my gym group is why I go!) My body often hurts and things are not the shape they once were and it’s so frustrating! I guess that is aging?! My arm is healing though. I feel it getting stronger each week! I can lift almost as heavy as I was lifting prior to my injury, but determined to go gently so as not to be back where I started. A lot of relief comes from not carrying a toddler around which is a big step. The toddler isn’t a toddler anymore! Cryyyyy!!

I got some framing done of my woven works which I am really excited about. Bonnie at The Alchemist has done a beautiful job (as always!) How lucky I am to have someone so good at what they do to collaborate on this aspect of my artworks with. I’ll include some photos.

The garden is turning golden this week. The wood delivery arrived and there’s already been a light frost on a few of the mornings. The days are warm and beautiful. The tomatoes are ripening, the pumpkins getting larger and we replaced the four chooks we lost to Foxy Loxy last week with a new adopted flock of retirees from a local free range egg farm.

I just finished an Intro to Permaculture class at our local community house which has been a balm for my soul. It feels wonderful to create connections and feel embedded in a community in these uncertain times. Not to mention the extra knowledge I have gained to strengthen the diversity and life in my own garden and home.

I am about to start reading Arundhati Roy’s memoir Mother Mary Comes to Me. Did you ever read The God of Small Things? I did in my 20’s and loved it. The opening chapter still remains strong in my mind, the descriptions of the garden and the rain. I think I will reread it after the memoir if I can!

I listened the the GWA interview with Dita Amory, the curator of the Helene Schjerfbeck exhibition. I loved that book on Women’s Self Portraits called Seeing Ourselves that Schjerfbeck was included in by Frances Borzello. I think you’ve read it also? I pulled it out again to reread passages on Schjerfbeck. I love how a podcast or magazine article will spark a memory or remind you of something that sits further back in your mind, especially when we have so much on the go at any one time!

Well my dear I should leave this here. It’s almost that time of day when the bus rolls back around with the “big kids” as we call them in this house.

Hope this finds you well!

Big love,

Lizzie

Dear Stacey (1 April ‘26)

Dear Lizzie (21 March ‘26)