"Like a gold prospector you must resign yourself to picking up a lot of sand from which you will later patiently wash out a few minute particles of gold." (no author) That is a quote from the end of a post that Aleanna made recently. I must say I was impressed with it. It is so true of my life. Sometimes I feel as if the sand dunes of Arabia are on my doorstep, blown here by that particular wind that blows trouble to your door. And yes, if I sift enough I may find that elusive good thing but it will take a bit of doing.

But I also know that I have little to complain about in the face of the starving children of Africa and South America that feature on our tv, sifting through tons of garbage for a morsel of food or a little metal to recycle. How can their government, rich philanthropists, charities etc let them live like that? I cannot do much about it but feel so rich by comparison. And I remember what it feels like to be cold, hungry, to feel unsafe and even unloved, we have all been there at some time or other.

But today I had a good day in what overall has been a good week. Not an outstanding week though it has had some outstanding things in it. For instance our dear friend who came up and painted the wooden gables at the end of our house so that the peeling paint would not let the water in. He also cut down some branches off a tree that was starting to be a nuisance when the wind blew and also dug one of the drains that had overflowed last time it rained and caused some minor flooding under my house. I as a woman am inclined to make a scrape across the soil to divert water. He dug a decent size trench. Now there is a particle of gold if ever I saw one.

And today I bought a couple of reasonably priced blouses at our church fashion parade. I showed two to Ray and asked which one he liked and he said: "Whichever one you want, or you could have both." well, no need to tell me a second time. He even reached for his wallet the dear soul, as once he would have done to buy me a present. Made my eyes fill up with tears, it has been ages since I have seen him do that.

So there is gold in my life. The gold of good friends, the gold of people, like those who read this, who do truly understand. There is such relief in knowing that this road we travel we do not travel alone.

I spoke to my northern family tonight and they will be spending a couple of days with us the last week in June AND Shirley will be spending three days with us at the beginning of December too when she comes down to Sydney for a women's conference leaving Craig and the children in Cairns. That means some of those mother and daughters moments I hope, the sort you store up and treasure. I do so miss her and her family. And the thought of them being here soon is so GOOD. Good as gold.

And Ray's general health has been good this week and his behaviour moderate, and his deficiencies under control. So that makes me give thanks too.

I am not a Pollyanna as a rule, quite the opposite sometimes but I do think it is essential to post about the good times as well as the bad. And honesty can be confronting sometimes but other times it does show that nugget of pure gold. Sure we all have our down moments, but we have our up times too. And those where the road is smooth and runs in pleasant places.

Hope your week has had some golden moments too.